Forgive and Forget
by lady-warrioress
Summary: Nos-4-A2 is rebuilt but there's a problem. He doesn't remember anything! Scared out of his mind he flees Zurg's palace but.. the evil emperor isn't going to let him off that easily and hires a bitter somebody to get him back.
1. Chapter 1

Part 1 More Than Spare Parts

The Grubs finished up cleaning the parts in Zurg's throne room and stored them in a box with wheels so they could move them out all at once. This would keep Zurg from complaining that they'd missed something. One Grub set the very last piece into the box, a head with a look of horror frozen on it's triangular face, and nodded to the others. They nodded back and pushed the box out of the room and down the hall to the waste disposal unit where they'd dump the parts which would then be taken to the scrap yard and used over.

On the way they came across Brain Pod 4 who was on his way back to his lab to build yet another of his emperor's creations. Had he known what the consequences of his actions would cause in the future he never would have given that box a second look.

But he wasn't thinking of that when his eyes fell on the box.. or more importantly the contents of the box. "Hold it!" he shouted, wheeling after them.

"What is it?" one of the Grubs questioned turning to him.

"Are you really going to throw those parts out?" he asked.

"Yes," the Grub replied, nodding. "Evil Emperor Zurg commanded us to make sure they were taken to the scrap yard and melted down for parts."

Number 4 looked horrified. He couldn't let them do any such thing to those parts! He needed them! . "I got a better idea," he said, putting a hand on the box. "Why don't you give them to me?"

"Why?" the Grub asked, giving him a suspicious look. "What could you possibly want with Nos-4-a2's parts?"

"Oh nothing really," Number 4 replied, looking somewhat nervous. If he had to explain himself the insects would never let him have them. "I just figured I would use the parts for something more useful, without having them melted down, " he looked in the box. "Zurg did say he wanted a self buttering toaster."

A"You're right he did say he wanted a self buttering toaster," the Grub agreed, looking thoughtful. "and there are some pieces in there that would be good for that."

"Yes yes," Number four said, nodding eagerly. "Exactly. So what do you say?"

"Okay," the Grub said, pushing the box toward him. "It's not like these parts wouldn't have wound up being used for something like that anyway."

"Excellent," the brain pod said, taking the box and wheeling it down the hall toward the labs.

Once he reached his lab he wheeled the box inside and over to a table where he then emptied the contents onto it. "Oh goody," he said happily when he saw that none of the parts were missing. He picked up the head with its frozen scream. "You're all here!"

Right away he began to reassemble the parts, carefully organizing them by size and shape. "Once I get you back together you will help me get off this godforsaken rock!"

* * *

Zurg flopped down onto his throne, completely exhausted. "Finally," he said, letting aching his arms dangle over the sides. "I finally got that Z back in it's proper position." he whiped sweat off his brow. "I'm never letting that happen again."

And it wouldn't. Thanks to Buzz Lightyear. The Evil Emperor for once was grateful to the space ranger. If it hadn't been for him, Nos-4-a2, that cursed energy vampire, would have taken over the whole universe. _And everyone knows that's my job, _Zurg thought, turning his head wearily when he heard footsteps approaching him. _I am the evil emperor here, not him. It would be embarrassing to have people realize I was nearly defeated by my own.. son._

Son. Yeah he was his son only by creation not birth. Nos-4-a2 was a robot after all and Zurg.. well Zurg wasn't, not really.

"Evil Emperor Zurg," a Grub said, walking toward his master. "the cleaning is finished."

"Ah," Zurg said, sitting up straight. Some good news. "You disposed of the parts then?'

"Well sort of," the Grub said.

Zurg was startled. "Sorta of?" he asked. "There is no sort of. You either did or you didn't."

"Well I gave the parts to Brain Pod 4."

"Brain pod 4?" the emperor exclaimed, startled. "What could he want with them?"

"He said he was going to use them to make the self buttering toaster you wanted."

"I never said I wanted a self buttering toaster!" Zurg shouted. "Though that would be a good idea." he added thoughtfully. "Buty I still didn't say I wanted one, especially now!"

"Well uh," the Grub said, starting to look nervous. 'That's what he said he was going to use the parts for and he said you wanted one so.."

"So you decided to just give them to him without confirming it with me first?" Zurg demanded, angrily. "How many times do I have to tell you Grubs to always run things by me first?!" he threw his hands in the air and ranted. "Ugh! I'm surrounded by idiots! How hard is it to ask me something anyway? It's not like I have anything else to do!"

"S-sorry," the Grub said, putting up his arms to protect his face.

"Oh get out of here!" Zurg shouted.

The little insect was happy to comply.

Once he was gone Zurg sat back on his throne and thought for a moment, his finger rested on his chin. _Now why would Brain Pod 4 want Nos-4-a2's spare parts? _he asked himself. _Surely it's not to make a self buttering toaster. He must have another reason. _The evil emperor stood up and walked down the stairs, his hands behind his back. "I think I'll just pop into his work station and see what the little cerebellum is doing. Hahahaah!"

* * *

Brain Pod 4 was making good time with his project. He actually had one arm completely reconstructed and was working on the chest. "All right," he said to the disembodied head, which he'd begun to converse with every so often as if it could actually talk back. "See this won't take long at all. I'm efficient so I expect to have you complete by the end of the week or sooner." he looked around himself. "Now where did I drop that blasted screw driver?" he looked under the table. "It was here a minute ago."

Unable to find it, he spun around and smashed into something purple. "Oh I'm sorry I-" He recognized the garment and looked up. Zurg stared down at him, his one hand on his hip and the other holding the missing screw driver. "Lose something, Number 4?" the evil emperor asked, looking down at him.

"Zurg!" the brain pod exclaimed, backing away from him. "What are you doing down here?"

"Oh nothing really," his boss replied. "I just heard you were working on something down here and I wanted to see it." he looked toward the table. "A self buttering toaster, was it?"

"Well, yes but ummm," Number 4 said, trying to hide his project. "I'm not nearly finish with it yet. I still have a lot of work to do."

"Oh really?" Zurg tried to look over his shoulder. "and you wanted to surprise me, is that it?"

"Yes, well I guess you could say that." _You'll be surprised all right. _

"Yes," Zurg was still trying to see it. "Mind showing me your progress?"

"Umm uh.."

"Unless you have something to hide." Zurg said, looking at his fingers. He glanced at him. "You don't, do you?"

"Um no," the brain pod shook his head. "It's just that I don't like showing off my work until it's done."

"Oh I'm sure you can make an exception," Zurg put his hand on the pod and shoved him to the side. "Now let me see-" he took one look at the partially complete robot and lost it.

"What is this all about?" he demanded, rounding on Number 4.

"What is what all about?" Number four asked, backing away from his boss.

"That!" he shouted, pointing at the body on the table. "Why are you rebuilding that energy vampire?!"

"Well uh..you see," the brain pod stammered, wheeling backward as the evil emperor stalked toward him. He would have to watch what he said , Zurg was known for his ruthless temper tantrums. "I wanted to uh.. rebuilt him and make him.."

Zurg leaned toward him. "Yes?"

Number 4 thought quickly. "I thought I'd rebuild him then reprogram him so that he would be completely loyal to you."

Zurg was startled. "Oh really?" he asked, sounding like he didn't believe him.

"Yes," the pod said, nodding. "Then you wouldn't have to worry about him overthrowing you again."

Zurg looked back at the table. "Yes," he agreed, straightening up and putting his hand on his chin. "You've got a point." he grinned. "Okay then. You do that."

Number 4 stared at him in surprised. "Really, sir?" he asked. "You're not angry?"

"Of course not," Zurg said, putting his hand on the pod's shoulder. "Finally one of my workers came up with a good plan for that defective model." he straightened again and patted him on the back. "You just keep doing what you're doing then." he turned away and headed over to the table, looking the parts over until he spotted something that looked important.

The memory chip.

He picked it up, studying the frail piece of hardware. "Hmnn.."

"Don't touch that!" Number 4 shouted, wheeling over to him. "That's the memory chip! If you mess around with that he'll-"

"He'll what?" Zurg asked, looking at him.

Number 4 didn't answer.

Zurg looked back at the chip. "So this chip holds everything he knows, does it?" he asked holding it between two fingers and wiggling it a bit. "All the evil he's done and all the betrayal too."

"I could alter that a bit," Number 4 suggested, hoping Zurg would agree then hand it back. He really didn't want that chip damaged. "Make him think he did all that stuff to help you out ."

"You could..." Zurg thought about that for a moment, running his fingernail gently over the chip without scratching it, then said. "Let's not take any chances." Before dragging his thumbnail heavily over the chip, creating a huge gash in it. "There." he dropped the chip into Number 4's hand. "I did your work for you." He walked away, leaving Number 4 to stared down in horror at the damage memory chip. "Good luck, hahahaha!"

Number 4 stared at the memory chip, his eyes locked on the long, deep scratch down the middle. Ruined. It was ruined. Now the robot was useless to him. He put the chip beside the parts and sighed. So much for his plan. Without Nos-4-a2's memories everything the brain pod had devised was for nothing. _What am I going to do now?_

He looked back at the chip. It was still intact, thank the cosmos. Zurg's had merely scratched it. He picked up the chip again and studied it. Yes, a scratch but it didn't look very deep and there didn't seem to be any broken wires. Maybe he could still use it. Maybe all wasn't lost.

He looked back at the partially completed body. Yes, he could still use it. What was the worst that could happen?

* * *

_A few days later..._

Brain Pod 4 finished attaching the head onto Nos-4-a2's body. He sighed in relief then moved away, surveying his work. While most of the robot's body had been completely repaired, one limb was missing below the elbow. The left arm. He'd tried to find the missing part by searching every square inch of Zurg' throne room but it was either lost or somebody had thrown it out before he could save it. 4 didn't want to reactivate the energy vampire without that limb but he was running out of time and didn't have a choice. If he didn't do it today he might as well kiss his existence good bye and he would too because today ended his limit. Zurg had wanted it done by the end of the week.

The brain pod stared down at the memory chip in his hand. The scratch was still there and he'd had no way of repairing it. That wasn't to say he hadn't tried but he had to be careful whie he did it, and when he'd almost broken the chip he'd given up, not wanting to lose further information. Nos-4-a2 would just have to come back online with a faulty hard drive. Maybe it wouldn't matter and he'd still retain his memories.

Well most of them. Number 4 had been forced to remove a few of them to appease Zurg when the emperor had come down a few times to check on his progress and make sure he really was reprogramming the vampire. But hopefully... hopefully the memories he'd deleted hadn't been important.

"Well this is it," he said, staring at the energy vampire's triangular face. "Today is the day I'm going to reactivate you." he reached inside the chest where the memory bank was kept. "Here we go."

Being very careful, he reached leaned over and gently set the chip in the memory slot. The moment it was in place he touched the power button and moved back as Nos-4-a2's systems ran their start up sequence then a scan for possible errors. Number 4 waited impatiently. These things always took awhile, especially for older machines. Nos-4-a2 wasn't that old, he admitted to himself but he wasn't as up to date as he should have been.

Two minutes later the sequence ended and the robot's optics flickered to bright red brilliance. Nos-4-a2 made a sound like that of somebody taking a deep intake of air after being under water for a long time. The energy vampire blinked then sat up.

"Good morning," Number 4 said, getting the machine's attention.

Nos-4-a2 jumped, startled at the sound of the brain pod's voice. He turned his head and rested his optics on the one who had brought him back to life. A strange looking being..

"Hello," Number 4 said, waving at him. "It's nice to see that you're working properly. I was afraid you might not be able to-"

Nos-4-a2 looked away from him and scanned the room with a lost expression. "Where am I?" he asked, sounding confused.

"What?" He didn't know where he was? "Why, you're in one of the labs in Evil Emperor Zurg's castle."

"Labs?" the vampire looked down at his left arm. It wasn't there. He used his good arm to touch it, getting shocked by some loose wires. He yelped in surprise.

"Um yeah I'm not finished with that yet." 4 told him. "But I don't have time to attach a replacement yet. I'll do it after Evil Emperor Zurg get's a look at you."

"Who is this Evil Emperor Zurg?' Nos asked, looking back at him.

The brain pod was startled. He didn't know who Zurg was? What happened? _The memory chip, _he thought. _It must have been more damaged that I thought. _

This was bad. How was he going to use the energy vampire to get him out of there now if he couldn't remember anything? If he'd lost everything he was basically useless.

"You don't remember anything?" Brain Pod 4 asked.

Nos-4-a2 looked at him with that lost expression. "No," he said.

"Not even your name?"

Nos shook his head. "What should I be remembering?"

Perfect. Just perfect.

But Number 4 wasn't willing to give up yet. "Think," he persisted. "Surely something will come to you."

Nos-4-a2 was still for a moment then he replied, his eyes locking with the brain pod's. "I do remember being hungry." the anti-gravity hardware activated and he hovered off the table and before the brain pod. "Hungry for energy."

Number 4's eyes widened. That hadn't exactly been what he'd wanted him to remember. Uh oh!

He spun around and wheeled away. Behind him he heard that strange roaring sound Nos-4-a2 made before he attacked then the sound of wings opening. He looked back just in time to see the energy vampire lunge at him.

* * *

Brain Pod 4 was late, Evil Emperor Zurg thought.

He should have brought the newly rebuilt Nos-4-a2 to him by now but he had yet to show up and the emperor was getting impatient. "You!" he shouted to a Grub. "Go down to the labs and see what's taking Brain Pod 4 so long to brig up my energy vampire."

"Right away, you wickedness," the Grub said saluting then turning away and scurrying out of the room to do his master's bidding.

Zurg sat back in his chair and sighed. "He'd better not be trying to use that vampire to escape. The last thing I need is for another one of my minions to run away..."

* * *

The Grub took the elevator to the floor with the labs and exited when the little bell went off, letting him know he'd arrived at his destination. He then headed down the hall to the laboratory where Brain Pod 4 worked. As he walked he wished to himself that he didn't have to go down there. The Grub had been one of the crew of a dozen who had built Nos-4-a2's Wirewolf machine. He wasn't looking forward to seeing that creature again.

"Number 4," he called, pressing the button that opened the door. "Evil Emperor Zurg is waiting for you to bring the energy vampire up to him." the door hissed open and he stepped inside. "You're late. You know he doesn't like to-" he stopped in mid-sentence when he caught site of Number 4.

The Brain Pod's suit lay on it's side on the floor but that wasn't what terrified the insect. It was the being on top of it. The one in the black cape with its head bent over the machine. It was draining all the power out of the the suit which meant the life support. The brain inside the suit had gone gray.

The Grub instantly recognized the being as Nos-4-a2, the energy vampire

"Sweet mother of Venus!" the Grub exclaimed, backing away.

Alerted by the insect's voice Nos-4-a2 lifted his head and turned his head. His optics locked with the creature's big black eyes. "What are you?" he asked.

"I.. I.. I.." the Grub replied, continuing to move away from him. "You've killed him!" he shouted.

The energy vampire looked back down at his victim. When he caught sight of the gray mass inside the glass bubble his face filled with horror. He instantly moved away from it, unable to believe what he'd just done. He hadn't meant to kill the being. He'd felt the energy inside it's life support suit thrumming powerfully, calling to him. he'd only been acting upon his preprogrammed instincts. "I.." he stammered.

The Grub took advantage of his uncertainty to make his escape. He turned and flew out of the room, activating the communicator in his helmet. "Zurg!" he yelled. "Come in Zurg!"

Zurg's voice responded right away. "How many times have I told you not to use this frequency for petty things?!" he yelled.

"I'm sorry your viciousness," the Grub said, looking over his shoulder. "But we have a problem."

"What is it?"

"It's about the energy vampire."

"Oh?' Now Zurg sounded interested. "Has Number 4 activated it."

"Yes," the Grub replied. "But it killed him!"

"What?!"

"Nos-4-a2 attacked Brain Pod 4 and killed him." the insect looked back again. Now he saw the energy vampire exit the room and fly toward him. "He's loose! He's coming after me!"

* * *

Back in the throne room Zurg was also beginning to panic. Nos-4-a2 was loose?! He's killed Brain pod 4? This wasn't good. That meant Number 4 hadn't been able to reprogram him after all. The evil emperor couldn't risk the energy vampire running rampant around his palace and draining anymore of his hornets. He only had one option to prevent that from happening.

He activated the Red Alert then dashed down the stairs, pulling out his own gun and making sure it worked as he charged toward the elevators. _I should have gotten rid of those parts when I had the chance!_

_

* * *

_

Nos-4-a2 followed the Grub out of the room not to kill him but to find out why he had run . If it was about the brain pod thing he wanted to explain that he hadn't intentionally done such a thing to him. It was an accident. But as he made his way toward the bug sirens went off, nearly scaring him to death. _What's this? What's going on?_

Then another sound reached his ears. Footsteps. Coming toward him. He turned his head in the direction it was coming from.

Robots. Dozens of them. All black and yellow. They were coming toward him. He could feel their energy and it reminded him how hungry he was. The call was too much to resist. He needed to feed again, the brain pods energy hadn't been enough. He started toward the other robots but never got close.

Suddenly they raised their arms and started shooting.

He yelped in surprise and backed away. They came toward him, still shooting. Scared and confused he activated his wings and took off in the opposite direction. The hornet robots followed, still shooting.

Nos, looked over his shoulder, watching the machines chase him, confused as to why they were shooting. _Why are they trying to kill me? What did I ever do to them? _

The energy vampire didn't get very far. He flew around another corner and came upon another row of robots. These ones looked the same as the others but they had a comrade. A strange being with red eyes and wearing a purple robe. Nos-4-a2 stopped himself before he ran into them. His eyes locked onto the purple being. It seemed to be the leader.

"That's far enough, Nos-4-a2!" the purple clad being said.

Nos looked over his shoulder, his intent clear. By then the other robots had caught up to him, blocking his only other revenue of escape. He looked back at the being who smiled. "End of the line, vampire."

He was trapped.

"Looks like you have no way of escaping, my failed creation," the purple being replied.

His creation?

"I knew I should have thrown out your parts when I had the chance." he went on, raising his giant gun and aiming it at the vampire's face.

Nos-4-a2 backed away, his eyes locked on the barrel of that gun. "What'd I do?!" he asked, in a pathetic sounding voice, his eyes widening in terror. "Who are you people?! Why're you doing this to me?!"

"Nossy, don't tell me you've forgotten your dear old dad Zurg," the purple being said putting his hand on his chest. "I'm crushed."

"Dad?"

"Yes, your dear old dad whom you tried to overthrow." that gun started powering up. "But this time I'm going to make sure you don't get a chance to try." he made a somewhat sad face. "It's too bad Brain pod 4 never got a chance to fully reprogram you. I guess this is the bricks. So long." He fired.

Nos-4-a2 reacted on instinct, diving sideways to avoid being hit by the flying projectiles. Thanks to his reflexes the blast missed him completely and hit the hornets blocking his way of escape. The machines exploded, sending the rest of the brigade flying in all directions. The being who called himself Zurg put up his arms to protect his face.

Nos, taking advantage of the confusion, spun around and flew down the now open hallway.

"After him!" Zurg shouted, firing after the fleeing energy vampire. "Don't let him get away!"

The rest of the hornet armada took off in hot pursuit.

_A/N_

_To be honest I'll just be happy if I get one review..  
_


	2. Chapter 2

PART 2: A System Of Errors

Nos-4-a2 wasn't going to spend anymore time in the palace if he could help it, not with so many people trying to kill him for reasons he could not fathom. He must have done something awful but he couldn't remember what that was. It was al a blank.

Getting out was proving harder to do than he hoped. Every floor had more hornets on it and whenever they caught sight of him they would open fire, forcing him to fly away. B_ut why? _he asked himself once more as he hid from a dozen more of the yellow and black machines, by diving into an empty room. _What have I done to deserve this?_

Nos paused and wracked his brain for the answer. But, try as he might he couldn't remember a thing. It was as if his mind was wiped clean except for the memories he had of killing Brain pod 4 and being attacked afterward. Even the words the being who called himself Zurg made no sense. Nothing had any meaning.

_But he seems to know me. _the energy vampire realized. _He called himself my father. _He hadn't acted like a father. _Why would he say that then try to kill me? _

Wondering about it now wasn't wise, he concluded. Once he was off the planet and safely away from danger then he'd try to process that information_. If _he got off the planet..

No! He couldn't think in ifs. He _had_ no _would_ get off the planet. If he stayed he'd wind up dead again..

_Again? _he thought leaning against the door so he could listen better in case more hornets came by. _This wouldn't be the first time? _

Just then he heard footsteps outside the room. Heavy footsteps, the kind only machines could make. The hornets were right outside. He went rigid, hoping the robots wouldn't decide to search the room. _Don't come in. _ They stopped. An eternity past.

Then the footsteps started moving and he heard two of them walking away. But there was another right outside the room, standing still. He could feel its energy thrumming inside it's body right through the metal door. That reminded him how hungry he was. But he couldn't feed now. He was trying too live!

_But I'm so hungry.. _he ran his hand over the door. _I need sustenance.._

It wasn't a good idea. He couldn't do that. He shouldn't do that and he knew it. It was a real bad idea. But he couldn't stop himself, the urge was just too strong.

Before he knew what he was doing, he opened the door and lunged at the hornet robot. He wrapped still intact right arm around it's neck and bit down. It reacted by firing off it's gun which alerted the other two hornets down the hall. They turned around, spotting the vampire snacking on their comrade and opened fire. He let his victim go and roared at the hornets before activating his wings and flying the other way while mentally kicking himself for allowing his hunger to get the better of him.

_Feed after you get off the planet! The next time you try that you might get killed!_

He flew around corner. Suddenly the whole right side of his face filled with a crushing pain. Somebody hit him. The force of the blow knocked him across the room and into the wall. Grunting in pain he fell to the floor and slumped there, trying to figure out what had happened. Right now his processor was a jumbled mess and nothing meant anything.

"Wow, when Zurg told me you were being brought back to life I didn't believe him," a voice said. Instantly Nos-4-a2's head cleared. He lifted it and stared into the face of a blue skinned creature with a robotic arm. "I guess I should have taken him seriously."

The energy vampire stared blankly at the newcomer. "Who are you?"

The being smirked. "Of course you wouldn't know me," he said. "We never met in person." he put a hand on his chest. "The name's Darkmatter. Warp Darkmatter."

"Warp..Dark.. matter?"

"Yes," the man replied. "I'm the one who's going to take you out." he aimed his right arm at the energy vampire's head, the hand part transforming into a gun. "Got any last words, Dracula?"

Nos-4-a2 pressed himself against the wall, his eyes locked on the glowing barrel of Darkmatter's cybernetic arm's built in blaster. His mind had gone blank, stealing away his voice along with it. He couldn't say anything or move. All he could do was wait until the man shot him.

He was going to die... again.

Darkmatter, seeing no resistance, frowned. "I was hoping for something worth my time," he said. "Maybe even a death threat about haunting me. From what I've heard you're much more formidable than this." he shrugged. "All well. Just makes things easier for me."

And just then something inside the vampire snapped. Self preservation took over. Letting out a roar he lunged himself at the man, baring his fangs and reactivating his red and amber wings.

Darmatter's eyes widened in surprise. Nos-4-a2 was going to do something after all. "Wha-" he began to say before the vampire slammed into him, knocking him to the floor. He landed on his back, the vampire on top of him. "Get off me, you freak!" he yelled, trying to pushed the energy draining machine away.

Nos--4-a2's optics fell onto Darkmatter's robotic arm. He felt the energy inside thrumming strongly. Instantly he latched his fangs onto the metal and bit down, sucking out all the energy. Darkmatter screamed in agony and beat at the vampire's head, trying to detach it. Nos held on until he was sure all the power was drained out then let the arm go, letting out another roar, before firing up his wings again and shooting down the hall.

"Whoa," Darkmatter said, getting to his feet. He looked at his right arm which hung uselessly at his side. "I wasn't expecting that."

* * *

_Why does everyone want to kill me? _Nos-4-a2 asked himself, flying down the hall, searching for an exit, any exit. He had to get off this planet. He wasn't safe here. If he stayed any longer he wasn't sure he'd exist for much longer. _The exit! Where's that bloody exit? I have to find that exit! _

He flew into another room. "Where's that blasted exit?!" he asked himself then froze when he found out where he was.

It was a large chamber with a high ceiling and big screen TVs adorning every wall. In the center sat a throne and behind that a large tank of some strange green colored liquid. This place was obviously a throne room of some sort. He didn't know why but this place seemed very familiar. _Have I been in here before? _

He glided over to throne and ran his hand over the seat. Yes, this did seem conventional somehow, though he couldn't quite figure out why. Had he been there before?

_This was yours once. _a voice whispered to him. _You had it.. You can have it again. _

_What do you mean? _

But the voice didn't answer him and he was left wanting. He ran his hand over the seat again then moved away, shaking his head. "No. I can't have-"

Just then the door behind him burst open. Startled he spun around and faced it. That being who called himself Zurg stood in the doorway with about a dozen hornet robots. He held that giant three barreled plasma rifle as if it weighed nothing. "Nossy," he said, putting a hand on his chest and making a face. "I see you couldn't help yourself. You just had to return to the place where you humiliated your dear old dad."

"Humiliated?" Nos-4-a2 asked, moving away from the throne. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Oh cut the amnesia act already," Zurg said, walking toward him with his robots close behind. He pointed a finger into the energy vampire's triangular face. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, you dirty traitor." he looked back at the hornets who reacted by stepping in front of him. "But don't get any ideas. You're not going to live long enough to try it again."

_Try what again?!_ No time to worry about that now. First he had to get away from this purple robed being and his brigade. He backed up further, his processor trying to come up with a good plan of escape.

Nothing was coming. Why wasn't anything coming?!

"Destroy him!" Zurg ordered his robots.

The black and yellow robots raised their arms and aimed at the energy vampire. Nos-4-a2 back away some more. He raised his hands as if that would protect him and.. then something unintended happened.

A bolt of green colored plasma energy shot out of his hand and slammed into the first hornet who overloaded and blew sending the rest of the hornets flying. Nos stared, unable to comprehend what he had just done. "What was-?"

"You destroyed my hornets!" Zurg shouted angrily. He raised his gun. "Well you're not going to do the same to me!" he fired.

Nos instinctually fired the plasma again to defend himself but he missed Zurg and the bolt hit the ceiling instead, blasting a huge chunk out of it which then plummeted to the floor. Zurg quickly dived out of the way to avoid being buried under the rubble. He then twisted and fired again.

The energy vampire had already moved, activating his wings and shooting into the air, his destination the hole in the ceiling. _An exit! I can use it to escape!_

"Oh no you don't!" the evil emperor shouted shooting at him.

But he couldn't get a good shot and missed every time. Nos cleared the hole and shot into the air not stopping but continuing his course into the sky. Something told him to get out into space as it would be a lot safer. He didn't bother looking back. If he did something bad might happen. Within minutes he'd entered space and put the dark planet behind him.

* * *

"No!" Zurg shouted, watching the vampire escape the atmosphere. "I can't believe he got away!" He pressed the Z insignia on his chest. "Darkmatter!" he shouted.

"I'm on my way," Warp's voice responded from the second floor. He was heading to the elevator to join his boss in the throne room. He stepped inside and pressed the button for the top floor. "I'll deal with your vampire for you after I fix my arm."

His arm? "What happened to your arm?"

In the elevator Warp Darkmatter looked down at his useless cybernetic arm. "Your vampire friend decided to snack on it. I was taken totally off guard. I hope you're planning on paying me extra for this."

"Forget about that!" Zurg shouted, angrily. "Just get to your ship and go after that thing and while you're on it I want you to contact some of your bounty hunter friends."

"Why?"

"Because he got away!" Zurg shouted. "Why esle would I want you to talk to your bounty hunter friends? To invite them to a slumber party?!"

Bad mental image. "I'm on it." Darkmatter replied.

"Good." Zurg cut the link and stalked back over to the mess of rubble. "That vampire isn't going to get away from me this time!"

* * *

_A few weeks later. _

Zurg sat back on his throne, nervously tapping the armrest with his right index finger. No news. Still no news. How hard was it to find and capture an energy vampire? He would go where the food was and that would be Trade World. Trace World was a big place but there weren't a lot of places a robotic vampire could hide and if he was there something would have been on the news and nothing had been reported.

Which meant he wasn't there after all.

"So then where _is_ he?" Zurg shouted, pounding his fists onto the arm rests. "Where else would an energy vampire go?! Nos-4-a2 is a creature of habit! Once he finds a place that will keep him fed he'll stay there!" He glared down at a few Grubs. "Get me Warp Darkmatter! Now!"

"Yes, you wickedness!" the Grubs complied.

A few seconds later Warp Darkmatter's face appeared on one of the screens. He didn't look happy. "Yeah?" he said. "What do you want?"

"Don't give me your lip, Darkmatter!" Zurg shouted."Why haven't you been doing your job? I sent you to find Nos-4-a2 weeks ago!"

"Whoa! Hold it right there, Zurg!" Warp exclaimed, putting up his hand. "It's not that easy."

"How is it hard?" Zurg snapped. "He's a vampire that feeds on machines! How many planets are out there with a lot of robots running around? I know for a fact he won't go to Ryzone!"

"I know that," Darkmatter replied. "and I know he'd go to a planet with machines but Trade World isn't the only planet with a large population of robots and so far neither I or my assosiates have found a thing on any of them. If Nos-4-a2 is on any of those planets he's doing a very good job hiding himself."

Zurg slammed his fist against the armrest of his throne. "This is Nos-4-a2 we're talking about!" he shouted. "He can't hide that easily! Not if you know what his energy signature is and I gave it to all of you!"

"I know that," Warp replied. "and me and my comrades have used it but we can't seem to find him." then he rememebred something. "Actually one of us did."

"And you're only telling me this now?"

"It didn't end very well," Warp replied, shrugging. "The guy got himself killed." Darkmatter shook his head. "Nos-4-a2 much have fed on the man's life support unit. It wasn't pretty."

"Oh save me the sob stories," Zurg snapped. "I want results, not excuses!"

"Well I don't know what to tell you, Zurg." the man told him. "Aside from that one incident, we haven't been able to find, our capture him." he shrugged. "Maybe you should just let it go."

"I will not let it go!" the emperor shouted, getting to his feet. "That energy vampire humiliated me and I will not allow him to get away with it!" he pointed at the screen. "and if you and your comrades can't do the job for me, I'll just have to find somebody who can!" then he cut the feed before Warp could comment.

"Idiots!" Zurg shouted, stomping down the stairs. "Blithering idiots! Such incompetence!" he glared at some Grubs that were staring at him. "What are you staring at? Get back to work!"

The Grubs returned to their monitors, pretending they had never stopped what they were doing.

"What I need is somebody who will be able to find that traitor without reservations about harming him," he said, pacing. "Somebody who hasn't failed in capturing a fugative." He tapped his chin and looked up at the newly repaired ceiling. "But who?"  
"Grubs!" he shouted suddenly, turning to the insects at the monitors.

"Yes, evil emperor Zurg?" one asked, spinning his chair around so he could face his boss.

"I want you to run a search," he ordered. "Find me some capable bounty hunters."

"Yes, your evilness." the insects turned to their task.

"I will not give up until I've captured that energy vampire," Zurg said to himself, putting his hands behind his back and pacing. "It's a shame Shiv Katall was nothing more than a guise." he shook his head regretfully. "He was so good at his job."

"Zurg!" a Grub shouted a few minutes later.

The evil emperor turned his head. "Yes?"

"I think we've found somebody."

"You did?" well this was a good sign. "Good." Zurg moved back the the Grubs and looked over the speakers shoulder at the monitor. The image on the screen wasn't impressive in the least. "You call_ that _a capable hunter?" he demanded, pointing at the picture angrily. "That kid looks like nothing more than a rookie!"

"Don't let looks fool you, emperor," the Grub replied. He pointed at the hunter's resume. "This hunter has a lot of experience."

"Oh really?" Zurg leaned toward the screen and read the resume under the picture. As he read his expression changed from annoyed to impressed. "My, my. This little hunter sure has been a busy little bee and such an impressive resume too." he straightened up. "Get our hunter friend on the horn. Tell the little lady that I have a job for her!"

* * *

_Sometimes I wonder why I even do this. Sometimes I ask myself if it's even worth it,especially with the people who hired me. They're not always on the right side of the tracks you could say, not that I don't work for those kinds of people either. Business is business, after all, and I'd rather be doing this than be stuck in foster care. _

"Evil Emperor Zurg," the hunter said, staring up at the monitor, through small oval shaped glasses, with a somewhat annoyed expression on her face. "What could the most notorious criminal in the galaxy want with my services?" _How did you even find out about me anyway?_

Zurg obviously wasn't happy with the hunter's question or the way the youth had spoken it. "Don't get fresh with me, young lady!" he snapped, hotly. "You should learn to be respectful to your elders!"

The hunter, a young tanned skinned woman with blue hair and dark purple eyes , scrunched her face up in annoyance. "Don't patronize me, Zurg," she snapped, leaning forward on the control panel. "Just tell me why you contacted me or I will cut the feed."

"Wait!" Zurg shouted, not wanting her to end the conversation before he could begin to deal. "Now don't do that. I am calling because I have a job for you, Miss Gemini."

"I figured as much," the hunter, whose first name was Heather. She used her right index finger to push her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. "I don't know of anybody who would contact me just for a chit chat." He frowned which made her smile. She could tell him wasn't amused by her statement or the tone she'd used. The young woman didn't really care. She didn't like him just as much as he didn't like her. " Do why don't you tell me about it then," she said before he could comment. "I know you want me to find somebody for you so why don't you tell me about this individual."

"Fine then." Zurg's face disappeared from the screen and was replace with another image. This one featured a robotic being with a triangular shaped head and wearing a dark colored cape. His one optic was covered by a monocle. "His name is Nos-4-a2," Zurg's voice explained. "He is an energy vampire wanted by the Galactic Alliance as well as myself. So far neither my other clients or any of the Space Rangers have been able to find or capture him and those who have tried were killed."

The hunter raised her eyebrows. "Killed?" she said. "He must be very dangerous." This was getting interesting.

"Yes he is," Zurg replied, the picture of the energy vampire flickering out. The evil emperor's face came back on screen. He leaned toward her and grinned. "But I'm sure a skilled bounty hunter like yourself won't have any trouble capturing him."

_It's kind of funny if you think about it. I'd rather be doing what killed my parents than be with people who could love me and give me a good home. To be honest I don't want to live with people I don't even know. Who knows what kind of things they could be mixed up in. _

_I also don't want to be a burden and I definitely don't want any pity. To be perfectly honest; I do not want another family. Never._

The young hunter did not hesitate. "Of course not," she said. "What space rangers and others can't catch_, I_ can."

Zurg smiled in satisfaction. "Excellent!" he said, clapping his hands together with glee like a little kid. "Then I will let you get started. I expect to be contacted once you have the little traitor in your custody."

Then, before she could ask him what he meant by that last statement, he cut the feed. She stood still for a moment, glaring at the blank computer monitor. Did he know any manners at all?

"And he didn't even give me any kind of clues on where I might find this vampire!" she grumbled, slamming her fist onto the control panel. "How does he expect me to find this thing if I have no idea where to look?!" she sighed more out of irritation than anger. "He's just made my job a whole lot harder!"

She stewed about that for a moment then closed her eyes and sighed. _I guess I don't have a choice. I'm going to have to just look for it. This is going to take awhile. _She moved away from the console and looked out the window of her ship. "I guess I'd better be going."

Suddenly the floor seemed to open up under her and she slid right through as if it was never there. _But I have other reasons for not wanting another family. _She came out the other end and landed gently on the floor of the control room. Her ship had two floors and the upper deck housed the communications while the lower part housed the controls for the ship's engines. _What I am isn't exactly acceptable. But I was born with way and I'm not ashamed of it. _She straightened up and walked over to the controls. She rested her hand on it and started them up. _But what others might consider a curse I consider a blessing. It comes in handy, after all._

"Well I might as well get going," she said to herself. "Hopefully he won't be too hard to find. I mean how many planets would attracted a vampire that feeds on energy?"

* * *

"You lied to her."

Zurg looked down at the Grub standing beside him. "Huh?" he said.

"Nos-4-a2 only killed one person," the insect told him. "You said he killed a bunch and space rangers too. Star Command isn't even aware Nos-4-a2 is alive."

"I know that," Zurg replied, not happy that the bug was reminding him.

"Then why did you say it?"

"Motivation, my friend," he replied, pointing into the air. "If I told her the truth she never would have agreed to it. I just needed to stoak her ego a bit. Let her _think _she's the only one who can do it. " he laughed and walked away, his hands behind his back. "It was either her or Lightyear." he paused for a moment and thought about that. "Hmm... I wonder if I should give her some competition, just to make things more interesting?"

_A/N_

_Just a little info: This fic takes me awhile to do. It's not writers block I'm just being a little lazy with it. I hope this doesn't put anyone off._

_And before anyone asks. NO! I am NOT pairing anyone up with anyone! 8sigh* just had to get that off my chest.  
_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Star Command's Most Wanted

_A week later_

"Buzz, I would like to have a word with you."

Buzz, who was sitting at his desk doing paper work, lifted his head and stared at his boss Commander Nebula who stood in the office doorway. By the look on his face and the tone he'd used the space ranger deduced that something had happened. Something bad. . "What is it?" he asked, getting up and stepping around the desk to join the older man on the other side. "What's wrong?"

The Commander didn't beat around the bush. His answer was simple and straight to the point. "Nos-4-a2."

It was apparent that Buzz wasn't expecting him to say that. "Nos-4-a2?" he said, looking confused. "He's parsec killed him."

"_Was_ dead," Nebula corrected. "It seems Zurg had him rebuilt."

This was obviously news to the younger space ranger. Why in the nebula would Zurg have Nos-4-a2 rebuilt after he'd betrayed him? It didn't make any sense. "Are you sure it was Zurg?" he questioned, his expression serious.

"Who else would pull a stunt like that?" Commander Nebula demanded. He beckoned the space ranger to follow him down the hall. The man followed right away. "From the information I gathered so far Nos-4-a2 is loose again and most likely went to the nearest source of energy."

"Trade World."

"Negative," the Commander replied, shaking his head. "If he was there we would have gotten a report."

'Then, if he's not on Trade World, where is he?"

"That's what I want you to find out, Buzz," Commander Nebula replied. "and since Booster and Mira Nova are away I guess it's just you and XR. Try to keep the robot out of trouble. I don't want that energy vampire biting him again after the last incident. Much as I don't like everything he does I don't want him going haywire again."

"You got it, sir," Buzz said, saluting.

They walked in silence for a few minutes then Lightyear asked. "Um. sir, would it be out of line if I asked how you received this information?"

"Now that's the strangest thing," Commander Nebula said. turning his head. "Warp Darkmatter told me."

* * *

It was true that Nos-4-a2 wasn't on Trade World but that didn't mean he was very far away from any of the important worlds. In fact he was _on _one, or a minor planet similar to Trade World. This one was called Laso Vega and it housed a lot of gambling establishments considered illgeal on other worlds. The planet ad it's attraction hadn't been put online until five years ago when Trade World became over populated at people had to find another place to live and work. Laso Vega had had some population back then but not as much as recently when casinos, bars, and strip clubs had been built on every single spare plot of land.

However, most of the population consisted of machines or people trying to hide from something. Like a certain energy vampire.

That particular energy vampire was hiding in one of the abandoned hotels that stood over in the poorer side of the planet/city. He lay on the floor, his one good arm rested at his side, staring at the ceiling. He was getting low on energy since he hadn't fed for almost a week. It wasn't because he couldn't find anything, there were plenty of robots on the planet, it was because he didn't feel comfortable feeding on them. He didn't want to kill the robots but when he bit them he always took more energy than he intended and they'd wind up...

Once he started feeding he couldn't stop until all of the energy was consumed from the robot's power core. While part of him didn't like that and made him feel guilty, another part enjoyed it. It enjoyed hearing dying screams and the feel of a being slowly dying. Something in the back of his mind kept insisting that that was normal for him. He shouldn't feel so upset about it.

But he did so he didn't want to go out, even though his systems kept on screaming at him to do so. _You have to eat something... _it insisted urgently. _You can't just keep on avoiding it. _

_I know.._

_Then get up and feed!_

_I can't. If I do I'll kill another robot._

_So you'd rather die instead? What kind of idiot are you? Isn't your function just as important as theirs? _

_I guess you're right.._

He sighed and rolled over so he could push himself off the floor with his good arm. He didn't have a choice. If only there was another way he could get energy without killing robots.

_Robots... you can't eat just one..._

He activated his wings and shot out the window. Below he could feel the thrum of robotic energy coming from every part of the city. It echoed in his head, hypnotically. He looked toward the ground, spotting a random soda machine walking alone. For some reason the design seemed familiar, as if he'd seen one of them before. Wondering why, he dived down toward it, not to feed, but to get a closer look.

A few seconds later he came up behind the little robot. It was walking along, unaware of the predator just behind it. The machine had not a care in the world. It was even humming to itself, a tune that seemed vaguely familiar.

Nos-4-a2, however, was hearing a different kind of tune. Now that he was closer he could feel the robot's energy thrumming louder in a very seductive symphony. Calling.. calling..

He resisted weakly.

_I.. I can't._

Too late. His hunger canceled out the guilty feeling. He lunged, grabbing the little robot with his good arm and sinking his fangs into its metal skin. It screamed as he drained its power but he ignored the sound and kept on feeding until his victim's screams grew quieter then were silenced.

He let it go and vending machine crashed onto the pavement, offline. He hovered over it a moment, reaching out a finger and poking it gently. The thing didn't even twitch. It was dead. He'd killed it.

_Not again._

_Serves him right. _that strange voice said to him. _Don't feel guilty. It wasn't like it's existence was doing the universe any good. _

_But.... even if that's true it doesn't make it any better. _

A brief memory flashed in his mind. Him feeding on a robot similar to this one. But the image was gray and scratchy as if it wasn't a memory at all but a dream. It vanished almost as quickly as it came.

Nos-4-a2 backed away from the robot and took to the air once more, his hunger leading him to the more populated part of the city.

* * *

Buzz stared at Commander Nebula, allowing his words some time to sink in. "Wait," he said. "_Warp Darkmatter_ told you that Nos-4-a2 is alive?"

Nebula nodded. "It surprised me too," he admitted. Of course it would. Warp Darkmatter was a traitor. It was hard to take anything he said as face vallue, unless he had a way to back up his claim. "For awhile I thought he was lying but then he showed me some proof and I had to believe him."

"What was this proof?"

"Video feed of Nos-4-a2 in Zurg's palace."

Video feed. Oh.. "But why would he tell us that Nos-4-a2 is alive?" Lightyear wanted to know.

"That I can't tell you but we can be grateful he did," the two stepped into the hanger. XR was already there, wheeling back and forth on the bridge, pacing impatiently with his hands clasped behind his back. "If he hadn't we wouldn't have found out until we had a crisis on our hands. The last thing we need is for that energy vampire to be loose in the galaxy. It was bad enough the first time."

Commander Nebula was right. They didn't need a repeat of that, especially that whole Wirewolf fiasco. The galaxy was much safer when that vampire was no longer functional. But what did Commander Nebula want them to do with him once they found him? Kill him or take him into custody? "So do you want us to use lethal force when we find him?" he asked carefully.

"It would be for the best," Commander Nebula replied.

XR stopped pacing when the two humans drew near. He had already been briefed on the situation and wasn't looking very happy about their current assignment. But he didn't comment. He would wait until he and Buzz were alone before he said anything, and say something he would. Buzz looked down at him. "Let's go, XR," he said.

"One more thing," Commander Nebula said before they could board the ship. The two space rangers turned to him. "Warp also said there were bounty hunters after Nos-4-a2 as well which means you'll have competition. Watch yourself."

"Don't worry about it," Buzz assured him, saluting. "We'll be sure to deal with any competition in the proper manner."

* * *

Heather Gemini sighed in annoyance and leaned back in her chair, glaring at the monitor. So far she'd been to six different worlds and found nothing at all. Nobody on any of those planets could tell her a thing about this energy vampire or his current whereabouts. _I'm beginning to think that this whole thing is just a wild goose chase or a joke. _she thought, pushing the glasses back up her nose then folding her arms. _How can a robot energy vampire hide so easily? He feeds on energy so he should be drawn to robots. So why.. why is he so hard to find? There aren't a lot of planets with a large machine population except Trade World, Capital Planet, and....._

One other world came to mind.

"And Laso Vega," she said out loud, leaning forward using the mouse to open a new window. "Of _course_. Why didn't I think of it before? That's it. If he's not on Trade World he would go to another planet with robots and since Capital Planet would be the last place he'd go, it be logical that he would instead be drawn to Laso Vega or another one of those casino worlds."

She summoned the image of the planet. It looked almost like Trade World from space except it had two moons and a thin, yellow cloud cover. Another difference was it's size. It was a third the diameter of the other world. "He's there," she stated as if it was a fact. "He's _got_ to be there. Where else could he be but there?"

Once more she ghosted through the floor and into the control room. "Computer," she said, walking up tp it. "Set a course for Laso Vega."

"Acknowledged." the computer's male voice spoke back.

Heather sat down in the pilot's chair and stared out at the stars. _I hope I'm right, _she thought. _I wouldn't be able to take if if I was wrong.. again!_

"In the meantime"' she said, opened the small palm computer in her hand and typing out some commands. "I think I should continue researching this vampire's habits and interests. It's always wise to be ready for anything." she frowned at the screen as the large file opened up. "I just wish his resume wasn't so long. How many times was this guy arrested anyway? Can't Star Command keep him in PC-7 if he's so dangerous? If I were them I'd up my security or something. How do these guys break out so easily anyway when the prison is supposed to have the best security system in the galaxy?"

Heather closed the computer and sighed, resting her forehead against her finger tips. "This is going to be complicated," she said to herself. "Real complicated." she stood once more and walked toward the door behind her, opening it and stepping into the small corridor between the control room, the brig, and the tiny apartment where she lived when she was on a mission. She entered the room and opened the storage locker leaning against the wall. Inside were her guns and restraining devices. She stared at the items for awhile, trying to decide what she would use.

The weapons once belonged to her parents. But since their deaths, she'd inherited them all. The girl had used quite a few on other missions but she had yet to use them all. About six other guns were yet to be used. She was a little nervous about touching them, since the two biggest ones looked too heavy for her to wield.

_Hopefully I won't need to use them._

She reached up and chose a smaller blaster. This one was her favorite and she'd used it on many a mission. She ran her hand lovingly over the small gun. She'd used it a few times to take down some rogue robots in the past. It should be able to take down an energy vampire. "I guess it'll be you and me again," she said, stroking the gun. "I hope you're ready to clip an energy vampires wings."

* * *

"Mind telling me why it's only and you Pop is sending to take care of Nos-4-a2?" XR asked once he and Buzz were alone in _42_.

"You know why," Buzz said, folding his arms, his expression troubled. "Mira and Booster are on leave, visiting their families."

"Well can't you contact them or something?" the space ranger robot asked, following him down the hall to the control room. "I mean; remember the last time just the two of us went up against Nos-4-a2."

Buzz looked down at him. It was obvious the robot wasn't happy with the idea. He was probably remembering the incidents one Trade World and Planet Z. The robot was afraid of the energy vampire and Buzz couldn't blame him. "We can't contact Booster and Mira," he told him. "They asked us not to. Which means it'll just be you and me." he gave him a reassuring look. "Don't worry about it, XR. Everything will be fine."

"Famous last words." XR pouted, folding his arms and frowning. "I wonder how many people uttered that exact phrase before founding out they were in over their heads?"

Buzz chose to ignore that statement and turned to the ships controls. "Let's just get this over with," he said. 'The sooner Nos-4-a2's no longer a problem, the better for everyone."

"Where do you think he would be hiding?" XR questioned. "Trade World?"

"Negative," Lightyear replied. "But my guess it would be some place with a similar M.O."

"Like where?"

"Laso Vega."

* * *

_Energy._

Nos-4-a2's hunger led him further into the city toward the more populated parts of the planet Laso Vega's cities. He tried to avoid feeding on robots quite a few times, instead choosing to steal batteries from dollar stores but the batteries were generic and had barely any charges. The robots gave him what he needed. But it wasn't enough either. Since he'd spent a week avoiding it, he was so low on power that it would be awhile before he was close to being full. But then again, he'd never been fully powered since his resurrection.

So quite a few robots died, though a few escaped his grasp, thanks to the fact that he was still missing an arm. He was unable to repair it thanks to the scarcity of parts he needed. He couldn't even remember how to repair himself, because of the scratch Zurg had put in his memory chip and Number 4's file deletion afterward.

He would worry about that later. None of the robots he came across had the right kind of limbs anyway and he could not find anything remotely close it the scrap yard either. It was almost as if his parts were no longer in production, as if he was an obsolete model. So he was stuck with only one arm for the time being.

_Hunger.. I must feed..._

Nos-4-a2 saw a large robot standing outside one of the hotels. It looked like a security droid. The size told him it housed a lot of energy which he heard thrumming strongly below the metal shell. Yes, this machine would fill him up well. But it looked dangerous too. If he wanted the energy he would have to sneak up from behind and bite into the back of its neck.

That would not be a problem if he could get behind it.

Activating his wings, he lifted himself into the air and flew over the hotel. He then banked and flew back until he reached the edge of the roof. The robot then deactivated his wings and peeked over the side, his optics focusing on the robot below him. It was looking left and right but not up. Oblivious. It would never see him.

A familiar sinister grin spread across his face. Yes, lovely. The perfect victim. Big, strong and stupid.

_Perfect._

_I don't want to kill him._

_Get over it. If it happens, it happens. _

Reactivating his wings he lifted himself into the air and flew off the ledge. He then hovered for a moment and then dived down at it, his fangs bared, ready to sink his teeth into the robot.

The intended outcome never happened.

Nos-4-a2 had nearly reached the robot when something unexpected happened. It spun around and looked right up at him. They locked eyes and the energy vampire knew he'd made a mistake. He flapped his wings backward, trying to stop the dive. Too late. He was too close. The robot raised a blaster and fired a bolt of red plasma at him.

He yelped in surprise, twisting to avoid being hit. The blast missed his body but got his left wing, tearing it. He roared in pain and then was falling, both wings deactivating themselves. He hit the pavement with a sickening thud.

Moaning, he put his hand on his head and reactivated his optics which had blinked out when he'd hit the ground. The security robot was looming over him, its gun trained on his head. "No dinner for you, vampire," it said. It put the gun right into his face. "This machine is not going to be your night time snack. Any last words?"

"No, not really," Nos-4-a2 said, thinking quickly. He had to get away. He raised his good hand. It worked before it should be able to work again. "Except duck."

"Huh?"

Just then a bolt of plasma energy shot out of the energy vampires hand and hit the robot in the chest, knocking him off his feet. As the robot tried to right himself Nos-4-a2 roared and reactivated his wings. However, instead of going after the robot as he'd intended, he shot into the air and took off, flying back toward the less populated area of the city, his flight pattern erratic.. So much for feeding. He'd had enough for tonight.

The energy vampire had only gone a few blocks when his wings flickered then blinked out, sending him plunging to the ground. He screamed in panic, attempting to ring them back online but to no avail. He kept falling until he crashed into a pile or garbage cans, knocking them over and creating enough racket to alert the people in the store across the street.

Panicking he pulled himself away from the mess and into the darkness of an alley, hiding himself behind a dumpster and waiting there, until the footsteps died away.

* * *

_A few hours later.._

Buzz Lightyear set 42 down on the landing pad of Laso Vega's largest landing strip. He and XR disembarked and looked around, taking in the black sky scrapers whose lights reflected off the glowing yellow clouds. Everything was quiet and nothing seemed to indicate that the energy vampire was even on the planet but they both knew better. He was there. 42's scanner had picked up his energy signature, though it could not pinpoint his exact location.

They were on there own.

Lightyear looked down at XR. "Let's move."

_A/N_

_I am being very careful with this. I know Nos-4-a2 isn't exactly IC but that's because he doesn't remember who he is, so being OOC would be... normal for an amnesia patient? Oh dear. I hope I'm doing okay. I am wary of the lethal force thing at the beginning. I don't know if it would be in character for him to allow that. If not let me know and I will go back and change it. _


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 The search.

Heather Gemini disembarked less than an hour after Buzz lightyear and XR landed on Laso Vega. After turning off the power she went outside and stood at the bottom of the platform taking a moment to scanned the sky, squinting her eyes behind her glasses. This was the only place left to search out of the planets with large machine populations. If Nos-4-a2 wasn't here, she didn't know what she was going to do. The girl checked the power setting on her gun then jumped to the ground, landing softly on the concrete.

She stood up and headed quickly across the landing pad.

She paused once more when she was on the sidewalk and lifted the scanner which she'd set to Nos-4-a2's energy signature. Zurg had been kind enough to give her that but even with it, finding Nos-4-a2 would be a chore. Laso Vega had a large robot population and those robot's had similar energy signatures.

"Craters," she cursed, pocketing the scanner. "So much for that."

She looked around herself. She had no idea where she was. Since she was only eighteen she had never gone to this planet before especially in the five years since it became one of the best known places for illegal activity. She noticed an alien leering at her and tightened her grip on her blaster. _Don't 'you dare come near me, buddy, _she thought, glaring at him. _Not if you want to keep all three of your eyes. _

Eventually the alien's gaze wondered off his slight frame and he turned and walked away, acting as if they'd never even made eye contact. Heather sighed in relief and headed down the sidewalk, in the opposite direction.

* * *

Nos-4-a2 had fallen into a recharge state as he waited for the people in the store across the street to decide the noise was a cat and go back inside.

As he slept he dreamed. The entire vision was black and white and shaky like an old film, even the audio was scratchy. He saw strange looking creatures shooting at him, a large moon that exploded, and a strange sinister looking canine like being with glowing eyes that, though he could not see the colors, could tell they were red just by the way the creature was staring at him. Whenever the beings spoke in that scratchy audio he was unable to decipher what they were saying except one thing.. "Nos-4-a2."

The word repeated itself over and over again....

Suddenly his recharge ended and he woke up whispering the name to himself. "Nos-4-a2..." then he wondered why he'd spoken it what the meaning of the word was.

_Nos-4-a2.. what is that? _

_You don't know? _that other voice asked.

_Should I? _

_Of course you should! It's your name!_

"My name?" he considered this.

He could not remember. Was it really his name? Did he even _have_ a name? It did seem familiar. Well even if it wasn't it would do him better to go by something instead of nothing and most everyone else he'd run into, including that being named Zurg, called him Nos-4-a2 so it was likely the voice was right to begin with. "I.... yes.. it will work for now."

_Even if it does sound like a bad pun. _

Now that he'd established that he could focus his thoughts on more important things. Like eating. His hunger was returning. The only thing his recharge accomplished was to give him time to process some of that power from earlier but it was draining again which meant he would have to feed... and soon.

Pushing himself off of the ground with his good arm he tested the anti-gravity hardware. It was functioning properly. He tried to activate his wings but they refused to work. It would be awhile before he could use them again.

_Craters. I guess that robot's blast did more damage than I thought._

Just thinking of that arrogant security droid made a strange anger flower in his chest. Strange but not alien. Something told him he'd known it before. This lust for revenge on something that had messed up everything. _But who else has done thing? _

Nos-4-a2 was tempted to return to the hotel and teach that robot a lesson but he resisted the urge, knowing full well if he tried that he would only get himself into deeper trouble. Besides; in his current state, vengeance would be short lived and he'd just wind up getting himself killed and he didn't feel like dying again.

_So don't do anything stupid, _he ordered himself, carefully making his way out of the alley. It was still dark which meant he hadn't been out for long. _Just keep on moving until you find something to sustain yourself. Something that won't put up a fight. _his optics rested on an appliance store across the street. It was full of electronic devises. He moved over to it, resting his hand on the glass. He felt the thrum of energy coming from a million different electrical devises. He stared longingly into the store. It was full of people. Not a good idea to chance getting caught.

Nos-4-a2 sighed in disappointment and turned away. Maybe he would find something else.. something not protected by anything and could not fight back. Something like the power core on Trade World. But where was he going to find something like that here?

He could steal some batteries but the ones in the stores were generic and wouldn't do much.

_I guess I'll just have to keep looking. _

* * *

"I think I'm picking up something," Buzz said, stopping and glancing down at the small computer built into the arm of his suit. "Hmmm..

XR looked up at him. "What?" he asked. "Is it Nos-4-a2?" the robot looked around, nervously as if expecting the energy vampire to lunge out of an alley and fly off with him. "Is he near us?"

'I don't know," Lightyear responded. "But we should be ready just in case."

At that moment a small, yellow soda machine robot wandered by. Buzz followed it's progress then lowered his arm, realizing his mistake. "No wait..." Buzz's expression changed to disappointment. "It wasn't him after all. Just a normal robot wandering around."

XR was visibly relieved. He obviously wasn't looking forward to meeting up with the energy vampire. "Well that's good." Lightyear gave him a look. "Okay it's not good... scratch that."

"Let's keep moving," Buzz said, already moving down the sidewalk.

Xr quickly wheeled after him, not wanting to be left alone.

"By the way, Buzz," he said after a moment. "How long do you think this will take?"

"As long as it has to," Lightyear replied, looking at the scanner then at the buildings and alleys surrounding them. Nos-4-a2 could be anywhere. "However long it does, we can't give up. We will find Nos-4-a2 and bring him to justice."

"Justice right," XR said, looking around himself. "Whatever you say, I just hope it doesn't take too long. I promised Bonnie I'd take her out and -" he noticed the look Buzz was giving him. "What? You're not dating her anymore."

"Forget it." he turned away.

"Now don't be like that," XR exclaimed, wheeling in front of him to block the human's progress. "Don't be angry!"

"I'm _not _angry," Lightywear answered, folding his arms. He was annoyed for a much different reason. "I'm just surprised that you can even think about going on a date with anyone when we have a rogue energy vampire running loose."

"It's my way of dealing with stress, don't judge me."

"Well you can deal with your stress later, ranger ," Buzz said all business. "Right now we have to keep our minds on the mission. We can't afford to get distracted."

"Right."

* * *

Nos-4-a2 blinded by the uncontrollable need to feed, unknowingly wondered into a more suburban area of the city while following the call of easy energy.

When a car drove by and splashed him with dirty water he snapped out of his trance. "Craters," he grumbled, looking at his soiled cape. He grabbed it up and did his best to wring it out with one hand.

As he did so he looked around, taking in his surroundings. This place looked similar to a normal neighborhood with wide front lawns and houses set far away from the road. The barking of a local dog startled him and he jumped into a fence made of shrubbery to avoid being spotted by anyone passing by. He landed on the ground between the plants, spitting out loose leaves. "Greens. How revolting."

"All right, Edward, I'm ready to get going." a voice spoke up all of a sudden.

He forgot about the greens. "Huh?"

Nos poked his head out of the plants and spotted a human closing the hood of his car as a butler like robot stood watching. His three fingered hands grasping a black briefcase. "I just have to get one more little thing."

The butler nodded. "Very good, sir."

When it looked like the man glance over in his direction, Nos-4-a2 pulled his head back into the shrub, not wanting to be seen. When he heard the house door slam shut he poked his head out again. His optics locked on the robot butler, waiting patiently by the car. He could feel the thrum of its energy from where he was and his hunger grew greater. He licked his lips and forced himself to stay back, his entire body trembling with longing.

"Hunger..."

He resisted. _No ,I can't bite it! If I do I'll kill it!_

_You don't have a choice, you idiot! Either you feed on butler boy there or shut yourself down. _

"But.."

He really didn't have a choice anyway. There wasn't anything else around to take away his hunger except that robot and that robot looked like it might just taste wonderful. But he was starving so taste didn't matter all that much. Staving off his hunger did.

So while he tried to resist his body rebelled against him and moved on it's own.

Very slowly the energy vampire crawled out of the shrub and made his way over to the robot butler. "I will only drain a little," he promised. "Just enough to stave off my hunger.."

_No! I want it all!_

He'd almost reached the unsuspecting machine when it suddenly turned around. The moment it saw him it freaked out and began to back away, it's optics bugging out of its cylinder like head. Nos loomed over him, encouraged by the robot's fear, slowly moving closer. This one wouldn't fight him off. He'd be able to consume his power even with one arm.

But just as he grabbed for it, the pulsating of another energy source distracted him. He turned his head and his optics rested on the car. Whatever was creating the energy was inside it. Letting the butler go Nos turned his attention to the car and grabbed the hood in his hand, ripping it off and throwing it onto the well manicured lawn.

The butler watched with a confused expression on his face, as the energy vampire reached inside the engine and ripped out the battery. Nos then put the battery in his mouth and activated his wings which were finally working right. He shot into the air and flew off over the city before the butler could figure out what had happened.

* * *

Heather Gemini paused next to a hardware store and looked around herself before contemplating the instrument in her hand. She was still getting interference from the other machines on the planet but she felt she was getting closer to her target.

"He can't be too far," she told herself, pocketing the devise to free her hands. "From what I gathered he is a creature of habit which means he would stick to the same hunting grounds." she sighed. "Which in this case might be the entire planet. I know I'm close but that doesn't really help since close could still be a long way off." she looked at the chronometer on her wrist, checking the time. Midnight. She'd been searching for six hours with no luck.

"Craters," she cursed lowering her arm. "I'm never going to find out anything this way."

Which meant she would have to use other methods to get an idea on where he might be. All she knew was that he would go where the machines were and go there often. But Laso Vega had a lot of machines, maybe even more so than Trade World, and plenty of places Nos-4-a2 would make into his habitual feeding grounds. Her dark purple eyes fell on the tavern across the street.

"It always worked before," she told herself, sighing in disgust. Of course someone in a bar would know. That's where most of the low lives spent their nights. She just hated going in those places. Taverns and bars were dangerous for girls her age. "If anyone one can tell me where to find Nos-4-a2 it would be one of them. I just hope it's worth it."

She headed over to it and opened the door but had to wait for two figures leaving to step out before she entered. When the door closed behind her the taller figure stopped and looked back toward the door, frowning at the blue head of hair walking away form him. _I think I know her, _he thought.

"What's wrong?" his partner asked.

"Nothing," he replied, shaking his head. "I just thought I saw somebody I knew that's all."

"You know a lot of people."

"That's true."

Meanwhile inside the bar Heather walked toward the counter, aware of all the attention she was getting just by entering the building. She'd noticed the building was ful of only male aliens so that explained it. _What's wrong with them? They act like they've never seen a female before. _She ignored the prying eyes, her attention focused on the man behind the counter.

"What can I get you?" he asked when she drew near.

"How about information?' she asked, sitting down on a stool and resting her forearms on the counter.

The man looked up from the glass he was drying and frowned. "What kind of information?" he questioned.

The girl leaned toward him. "How about information on an energy vampire?" she asked.

"He sure seems to be a popular subject lately." the man put the glass away and rested his arms on the counter. He moved his face toward hers and spoke in a low voice. "What do you need?"

"How about a location?"

The man leaned back. "Now that I can't give you," he told her. Then he added, noting her disappointment. "But I think I know somebody who can?"

Her eyes lit up behind her glasses. "Who?"

But before he could answer, a hand rested on her shoulder and turned her around in her seat. She found herself staring into the three eyed stare of a yellow skinned alien in a trench coat which bad breath. She recognized the being from wanted posters. Torque. "Aren't you a little young to be ordering drinks, honey?" he asked.

"I would be," she replied, glaring at him. "But I'm not here for the beverages, not that it's any of your business."

'Then what are you here for, baby?" he asked, leaning closer. "Looking for a date?"

"Sorry," she responded. "But I don't date outside of my species," she informed him, clenching her hands into fists to prevent them from trembling. Oh how she hated this part of her job. Can't these guys leave her be? She wasn't even that great looking, even if her mother insisted she was. But parents were supposed to tell their kids that.

"Why not?" Torque growled. "You think you're too good for me?"

"I don't think it," she informed him, keeping her voice calm. "I _know_ it."

"Why you little-" he shouted instantly losing his temper. He raised his fist as if to punch her but before he could she brought her legs up and used them to kick him in the stomach.

The blow send him reeling backward until he stumbled over a table, knocking food, drinks, and playing cards to the floor. He roared in anger and struggled to his feet. While he did so Heather jumped off the stool and ran across the room toward the door. She did not have time to deal with this punk and would rather avoid it and she sensed things were going to get bad real soon.

_Don't make me do it! _

Unfortunately the aliens buddies, which looked exactly like him blocked her path. "Oh no, baby, you're not going anywhere," one of them said, waving a finger in her face.

"Out of my way, geeks," she ordered, stepping back, her hand resting on the butt of her gun. "I don't have time to play with you today."

His buddies pushed her back. "Then I guess you'll have to _make_ time."

"I'm warning you," she growled, stepping backward. "If you don't let me leave you're going to regret it."

The two looked at each other. "I think she's threatening us."

"I'm _not_ threatening you," she corrected. "I'm warning you. Now get out of my way!"

By then Torque had recovered he came up behind the blue haired girl and grabbed her. "Gotcha, baby!" he said triumphantly.

"Let go of me, creep!" Heather shouted, struggling to free herself from his grip.

"Uh uh," the alien said. "Not until you apologize."

"Don't hold your breath," she growled, reaching toward her belt. She yanked the gun out of its holster and fired it at the two alien clones. They took the blasts in the chests and vanished as if they hadn't been there.

"Crater!" the alien cursed. He realized then that he no longer held onto the girl. She'd vanished. "Huh? Where'd you go?" he asked, looking around. _How did she break free without me feeling it?_

"Right here." said a voice behind him.

He spun around and saw Heather standing behind him, aiming the gun at his face. "The next one goes into your head, Torque," she threatened.

"Now now," Torque said, putting up his hands. "Let's not get violent here."

"Then get out of my way!" she ordered.

He willingly did so, not wanting her to follow through with her threat., She put her gun away and walked past him. As she walked past he laughed and tried to punch her, only to have his fist fo right through her head. "Huh?"

The girl ignored him, choosing not to continue with this confrontation. She walked out of his fist and then went right through the door, as if wasn't even there, not looking back.

"So much for that," she grumbled once she was back on the street. "I didn't learn a thing thanks to Torque. Why didn't that creep mind his own business?"

Well no sense dwelling on it. She had no intention of going back inside tto ask the bar tender who might have been able tom give her the information she needed. The girl continued down the street, pulling out the scanner and checking it once more. "I guess I'll just have to do things the old fashion way." Then she ghosted through the pavement.

* * *

Buzz and XR followed their own scanner to the same neighborhood Nos-4-a2 had stumbled into more than an hour before. As they passed by one of the houses they noticed that a man was yelling at his butler robot while waving his arms around angrily. The poor machine looked nervous and couldn't seem to get a word in edgewise.

"What's that about?" XR asked.

"I don't know," Buzz replied. "But let's fine out." he headed up the parking lot. "It might be important."

The robotic space ranger followed him up the driveway.

"I can't believe you just stood back and let some creep steal the battery out of my car!" the man was shouting.

"I'm sorry, sir," the butler said sheepishly. "But there wasn't anything I could do to stop him."

"There were _plenty _of ways you could have stopped him!": the man shouted. "You could have-"

"Excuse me," Lightyear said, cutting him off.

The man looked at him. "Yeah?" he asked, eying him warily. "What do you want?"

"I couldn't help ever hearing your conversation with your butler bot here and I was wondering if I could be of any assistance."

"Oh yeah? Who are you?"

"I am Buzz lightyear," he replied, putting his hands on his hips. "Now why don't you tell me what happened?"

"I'll tell you," the butler bot replied. "I was outside with the master's car while he went inside to get something when I was suddenly ambushed by this creepy looking robot."

"Creepy looking robot?" Buzz questioned, looking thoughtful. "Tell me, did this creepy looking robot have a monocle covering one eye?"

The butler nodded. "Yes, and he wore this black cape and had sharp fangs."

The two space rangers looked at each other. "Nos-4-a2," they said as one.

"I don't know his name," the butler replied. "All that I know is that he tried to eat me."

Xr moved forward and wheeled around him, scanning the robot's systems. When he was finished he commented. "You seem fine to me."

"That's because he didn't do bite me," the butler pointed at the car with the crumpled hood. "Instead he went after the car and pulled out the battery."

The two space rangers stared at him with faces of surprise and confusion. "The battery?"

The robot nodded. "Yes," he confirmed. "He took it out of the engine and flew off with it."

"Strange," Buzz said, putting his hand to his chin, thoughtfully. :"Why would he steal a car battery... If there's a robot right there?"

:"Perhaps he's gone insane?" XR suggested. "I'm just saying."

Buzz ignored that comment and looked back at the robot. "Which way did he go when he flew off?" he questioned him.

The robot pointed back toward the more populated part of the city/planet. "He went that way!"

"He went back into the city," Buzz stated. He looked at the space ranger robot. "Let's go, XR."

They turned away and moved back to the sidewalk.

"Hey!" the man shouted after them. "What about my car?"

"Don't worry about that, sir," Lightyear said, looking back at him. "I'm sure your insurance will cover it."

_A/N_

_I am aware that this fic is taking me a long time to write but as I said I'm trying to be careful. To be honest I am not satisfied wth this chapter but I couldn't do anything to make it better. If you think you can help me with it let me know and I'll change a few things. _


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Stay Out Of My Way.

The car battery actually did some , not some. A lot of good.

Nos-4-a2 was no longer dying from hunger, but he could still stand to have more and since so many vehicles drove around the city, maybe he didn't have to feed off of robots. Car batteries and power cells could be the perfect alternative. Then he would no longer have to feel guilty about killing machines.

_Why must you feel bad about that? _that voice demanded.

_I don't know.. _he admitted.

_You're pathetic..._

_But the batteries do taste good as well, at least admit that._

_True. Maybe you should find more. _

The energy vampire was flying over a parking lot. Even from where he was he could the thrum of energy coming from their power cores. He smiled and licked his lips. Speak of the Devil.

"Lovely..."

* * *

_Two hours later. _

"I'm close," Heather said, after checking the scanner once more. This was becoming a habit. "Good."

She pocketed the device and pulled out her gun, moving carefully down an alley_. I know he's here somewhere. I'm going to have to be on my guard. That file said he was dangerous. _

Not that she hadn't gone up against dangerous individuals before. She was a bounty hunter after all and that came with the job, and wound up coming out of many situations needing some kind of medical treatment. But this dangerous was slightly different. She could even be killed.

_So why are you doing this then?_

_It's my job. I stand the chance of being killed no matter who I go up against. It comes with the territory. _

She checked the power cell on her gun. It seemed to be full. Good. She smiled to herself and crept forward. _All right, Nos-4-a2, I'm ready for you. _

She paused before she reached the end of the alley, flattening herself against the wall. She listened for a moment, taking in what sounded like footsteps coming toward her, but that didn't seem right. Nos-4-a2 didn't have any feet. Not in all the pictures she'd seen anyway.

Did he have a bodyguard? Had he installed feet? Odd but not impossible.

The sound stopped. Time stood still. She couldn't stand it anymore. She had to find out who it was. Holding the gun before her, she charged out of the alley and pointed the weapon at the cause of the noise.

The culprit, a small, silver and purple, cylinder like robot looked up at her and screamed. She froze, her eyes widening in shock. _Huh?_

The robot flung his hands into the air. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "Don't shoot!"

Heather didn't, but only because she saw something on the robot's frame that looked familiar. The Star Command insignia. _I know that symbol.. _"A space ranger," she said, lowering her gun. "What is a space ranger doing on Laso Vega? I thought you guys wanted nothing to do with this place."

"What does it look like I'm doing here?" he asked, lowering his arms when the girl put her gun away. "I'm here to capture a wanted criminal."

_Of course. Why __**else**__ would he be here? That is what they do after all. _

But that also made her wonder. What criminal was here that he was after? Could it be..?

"What is the name of this wanted criminal you're here to arrest?" she demanded.

"Nos-4-a2."

Of course.

_Craters. I should have known that was why they are here. Zurg __**did **__say the space rangers had gone after him as well. _ "It looks like we're after the same thing then," she stated, folding her arms, her expression saying more than her words. _Looks like I'm going to have some competition._

The robot looked startled by her statement. "You?" he asked in a voice that clearly said he didn't think she was up for the job. "I'm sorry but I think you should leave capturing energy vampire to the professionals. This is too dangerous for a little girl."

His statement offended her and she felt the need to set him straight about a few things. "For your information, bot boy, I am not a little girl, I'm eighteen" she snapped. "For another I _am_ the professionals. I'm the one they call when you wonderful space rangers fail to do your oh so important jobs,"' she glared at him. "What is this? The sixth time you've had to deal with him? That doesn't seem very professional to me. In fact it seems down right sloppy."

Her accusations only served to offend the robot, as his inconsiderate statement had done to her. "You know what, no offense to you or anything," he said, folding his arms. "But you sound like you have a lot of serious issues that need resolving."

"It's not issues she has, XR," spoke up a voice behind her. "What she has is called bitterness."

Heather made a startled face. _That voice! _she recognized the voice though she hadn't heard it in eight years, not in person anyway. The girl glanced over her shoulder and spotted the speaker. Yes, she knew that person all too well. "Buzz Lightyear, I should have known," she said. _Why does it always have to be him?_

* * *

The owners of those cars would not be happy when they returned and found out they could not start them but Nos-4-a2 didn't care. He'd finally found an alternative to draining robots and he intended to stick to it as much as he could. Even though a part of him protested his new food of choice, he ignored it because that part only seemed to care about harming robots and being wicked.

"This will work," he stated, yanking out another car battery and flying off with it. "It's better and easier than attacking machines." he glanced at his arm which only went down to his elbow. "It's too hard to hold onto a robot with only one hand."

He smiled and hid the battery in the folds of his cape. "I'll save that for later. Right now I think I'll go looking for parts. I should really fix this limb."

It wasn't really any good being a useless stump and he didn't feel whole with just one working appendage. But where was he going to find the part? None of the robots he'd attacked had the right kind of arms when they did have arms and he had no intention of attaching one that would be clumsy and weigh him down. He needed one like he already had. Long sleek, and useful. Maybe a fembot's arm would work since they were always smaller than most of the male robots he'd encountered. But where was he going to find a fembot that wouldn't use her built in taiser?

He'd tried to do that previously and didn't like the shock he'd received.

_Never mind. I'll look somewhere else. _he swooped high above the city, his optics searching the entire district. _I wonder if this place has a junk yard?_

A few seconds later his sensor's picked up the location. He smiled to himself. _Perfect._

* * *

"Buzz Lightyear," Heather said, turning to face the human Space ranger. "I should have known they would send you." her expression said more than her words. She was not happy to see him and here of all places. "But why am I not surprised? It's always you, since you're so _perfect."_

Lightyear chose to ignore her stabbing comments. By now he was used to them. "Heather Gemini, it's been awhile," he said, his tone informing her that her presence was an inconvenience. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it _look _like I'm doing here, Lightyear?' she asked, folding her arms. "My job. I was hired to come here and capture Nos-4-a2, just as you were."

He wasn't the least bit surprised. "Young lady," he said, his tone changing to that of a father scolding his mis-behaving child. "Nos-4-a2 is a highly dangerous criminal. You would be no match for him. Go home before you get hurt and let us deal with him."

"Who gave you the authority to tell me what to do?" she retorted. "You lost that right years ago when you broke your promise to me." she rested her hand on the butt of her gun, a clear warning. "So just stay out of my way, Lightyear. Take your robot friend and head back to your safe little space station."

"Don't give me that tone, young lady!" he shouted in his most authoritarian voice. "You might not be a space ranger but that doesn't mean I can't give your orders when it's for your own good! Go home, Heather!"

"I don't _have_ a home thanks to you, Lightyear," she stated simply before turning and walking away.

"Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!" he shouted after her. "Get back here!"

"You're not my father!" she shot back. "So stop telling me what to do!" then she rested her hand on the wall of a building and ghosted through it, vanishing from their sight.

_There's more you could have said to him, _a voice in her head stated as she entered the building.. _Why did you say it? You've been waiting so long to tell him how you fell and you lost your chance._

_It wouldn't have done any good, _she retorted, heading toward the exit. _It never does._

* * *

"Is it just me," Xr said after the girl was lost from sight. "Or did that girl act like she knew you?"

Buzz sighed and pulled his attention away from the bounty hunter girl. Why had he bothered with her anyway? She was a rebellious young woman who refused to listen to good advice. Always had been always would be. Maybe someday she'd finally come to realize that kind of attitude would get her into big trouble with the wrong person.

"It wasn't just you, XR," he said, looking down at him. "She _does_ know me."

"How?" the robot space ranger questioned. "and judging from her attitude whatever it is it's not very good."

"It's not," he said. "A few years ago I was the one who told her that her bounty hunter parents were killed trying to take a dangerous criminal into custody. It seems she hasn't forgiven me for that."  
"She blames you for their deaths?" the robot exclaimed, unable to believe that. "It wasn't like you killed them!"

"I am aware of that."

"Bur why did you have to tell her they were dead?"

Buzz sighed. This was going to be a little hard to explain and he wasn't sure he wanted to tell XR about it. But if he didn't, the robot would keep on pestering him until he did. So finally, he said. "Well it's not that strange or anything," he stated. "At the time I was stationed close to the planet she and her family lived on. Of course I wasn't there for them but for a completely different reason." he folded his arms as a far off expression crossed his face. "Since the Gemini family are well known bounty hunters and were on good terms with Star Command and since Commander Nebula knew I was close, he contacted me and told me to let the girl know. Plus we couldn't exactly let a minor stay by herself like that."

"A minor? Just how long ago was this?"

"Eight years," he said. "She was only ten at the time."

"So you went to her house and told her?" XR asked."'I don't see how she can be mad at you for that."

"Well she took it hard," he exclaimed walking forward. He figured he'd explain the whole incident as they walked so they could search for Nos-4-a2 as well. Get two things done at once and besides, the energy vampire was more important. "She cared deeply for her parents and the news broke her heart."

"But that still doesn't explain why she's mad at you."

"That's not the reason for her anger," he said. "The actual reason is... I lied to her. I told her something I never should have and she found out after that." he shook his head. "Ever since then.."

"Oh I get it." XR folded his arms. "So what did you tell her that's got her turning into the ice princess the moment she sets eyes on you?"

Buzz frowned, obviously not wanting to discuss this further. "Forget it," he told him. "It's not important right now. We still have something else to do and hopefully we'll be able to find that energy vampire before she does. The last thing we need is more trouble."

* * *

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Nos-4-a2 hovered over the scrap yard, unable to believe his horrible luck. He'd searched this nova forsaken place for what seemed like hours and he could not find anything relatively close to the part he was looking for. It almost felt as if something with a sick sense of humor was picking on him on purpose.

"Craters," he grumbled, throwing a rust covered hand back into the mess. "What are the odds of this place not even carrying one tiny part that I could use?"

One in a million and it seemed he had actually found that one. The robot sighed and rubbed his forehead. He felt a processor ache coming on, but he wasn't sure if it was from stress or those random flashes of grainy black and white images he was getting. They weren't constant or increasing but they were annoying. Part of him knew exactly what they were but another part couldn't piece it together and would push them aside.

Bad things were in those images anyway and he wasn't even sure he wanted to remember them. Maybe it would be best if he didn't, not that his current list of memories were any better.

_They will come back to you, just accept it already._

_It's not that easy. It's hard to grasp something that only comes in two second flashes. When it chooses to come back fully then I will accept it, until then I'd rather not._

_Of course you would. Would it not be better to know everything about yourself than not?_

_To be honest... I am not sure. _

_Pathetic. _

The energy vampire shook his head, scattering his thoughts. Now wasn't the time to be dwelling on that and the voice that sounded like him but not wasn't helping. His systems were telling him he was running low on power. He would have to feed again soon.

Resting his hand on the battery he had hidden in the folds of his cape he activated his wings and flew off, intend on finding some place more suitable to enjoy his meal.

* * *

It almost felt pointless now. Hearher knew that if Star Command sent Buzz Lightyear, the best space ranger they had, finding and catching Nos-4-a2 for Zurg would be much harder. Lightyear was practically perfect. He hardly, if ever, failed at anything and if he was there to capture Nos, and she knew that he was because he and his partner had said so, he would capture Nos.

_So what are you going to do, girl? _a voice in her head asked. _Give up? Head back to your ship and leave just because you have yourself some hardy competition? Totally ruin your own reputation by throwing in the towel the moment the best Space Ranger in the galaxy shows his face? You worked hard to make yourself a good bounty hunter you can't just throw it away because Buzz Lightyear's in the picture. If anything you should be enjoying your competition. It will make things a whole lot more fun. _

"That's right," she admitted, glancing back the way she came. By then she was so far away from both rangers that she could no longer see them. Of course they probably weren't in the same place either since they were looking for the same creature she was and it would be totally unprofessional to stand around and chat for too long. "I'm not going to give up just because he's here. I was paid to capture that vampire and I will, even if I have to go past Lightyear to do so."

She moved forward, taking the small computer out of her skirt pocket. "I will find him first and if I don't, I'll follow Lightyear back to his ship and get him from there."

But she hoped she would not have to do that. Much as she disliked Star Command and Lightyear in particular she knew she couldn't afford to go breaking into their ships and kidnapping their prisoners. Even considering the idea made her uncomfortable.

"I'll just have to make sure I get to him first," she repeated herself, pushing her glasses back up her nose. "Hopefully I'll catch a break."

and just as she said that her scanner started beeping and the one energy signature she was there to pick up appeared on the screen. She grinned, totally satisfied with her turn of luck. "Excellent."

* * *

"So now we have competition," XR commented as he followed Buzz Lightyear down the street. "That girl is after the same person we are which means we'd better get to him first." he folded his arms. "I mean unless you want to drop it and just let her take over-"

"What kind of talk is that, Ranger?" Buzz cut him off sharply. "Commander Nebula sent us here to capture Nos-4-a2 and we're not going to give up just because we have competition."

"I was just saying."

"Plus we have to find him first," Lightyear went on. "That girl will never be able to take him out by herself."

"But she's a bounty hunter," XR reminded him. "That's her job. If she's as good as she claims that means she's taken our more dangerous criminals than him and if she sucked she wouldn't exactly be in that line of work to begin with."

"Heather Gemini is an ambitious girl," the human space ranger told him. "She says a lot of thing and puts up a big front but she's still just a little girl."

"Little girl? She's eighteen!"

"Her age is not the issue here," Lightyear responded. "We still have to get to Nos-4-a2 before she does. I don't want to feel responsible if she gets herself killed."

Somehow XR doubted that would happen but he didn't say anything. Buzz was right in some areas, the girl most likely was more talk than action, but he couldn't be too sure. "Fine. Let's get moving. Maybe if we fly around we'll find him faster."

"Good idea."

* * *

Heather followed the signal as it moved through the city, constantly keeping pace with it. A few times she thought she'd lost it but then the blinking red light on her scanner would go off again and she'd move on. Yes she was getting close now. The light grew stronger with every passing second. Eventually the light stayed constant which told her that her target was near.

The girl paused, staring at the light a moment longer before pocketing it and and un-holstering her gun.

_He's close, _she thought, realizing she was nervous about this. She had never had to deal with an energy vampire before. Who knew what could happen?. _I'm going to have to be careful with this. I don't want it to do anything unexpected. _she lifted the gun then rested her hand one of the walls of the two buildings that created the alley. She slowly ghosted through. _The last thing I need is to wind up in the hospital..again. _

* * *

Nos-4-a2 had found a nice, quite spot to have his meal. After moving down into it he deactivated his wings and pulled out the car battery. Just as he was lifting it to his face to take a bite a voice called out. "Freeze!"

_A/N_

_This saddens me. I'm totally going to have to re watch the Nos-4-a2 episodes again. Blast I hate it when things like this happens. But seriously if something didn't sound right let me know and I'll change it. _

_I honestly am not that interested in her back story and I don't intend to have a whole chapter dedicated to it. If anything I might just put in random bits as the story goes on, but she's honestly not the main focus anyway. This is a story about Nos-4-a2 after all; not Heather. _

_But I will have to explain something eventually. *sigh* I'm not looking forward to it.._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 _Going in Circles_

Nos-4-a2, startled by the voice, nearly dropped the car battery he held. He fumbled slightly to keep his grip on it then turned his head toward the voice. A short, tanned skinned, blue haired girl in a blue shirt and green miniskirt stood a few feet away. Her violet eyes, set behind a pair of glasses, were focused solely on him and she held a blaster which she'd aimed in his direction. She looked like she would just love to shoot someone with it.

The energy vampire stared at her, too shocked to say or do anything. Who was this person and why were they aiming that thing at his face? Did he know them from somewhere?

No.. even from what little he could remember from those flashbacks he knew he'd never met this person, though a brief image of someone who looked a bit similar flashed through his mind. Maybe she was related to that kid.

"Hold it right there, Nos-4-a2!" she shouted in a very authoritarian voice. "I don't want any false moves! Just put down the battery and give yourself up!"

That did it. She obviously wasn't here for a chit chat. her orders and that gun told him enough. He did drop the battery but he didn't give himself up. Instead he activated his wings and shot into the air, leaving the girl behind.

* * *

Heather stared after the fleeing machine, ticked off that he hadn't obeyed her order. Had she really expected him to? None of the other targets she'd come across did, so why should this be any different?

_Craters, _she thought, grinding her teeth together in aggravation. _Why did Zurg have to give him wings?_

"You're not going to get away that easily!" she shouted after him.

But how was she going to prevent him from doing so? He could fly and she could not. One advantage after another.

_Craters, _she thought, looking around herself urgently. _Where's an airbike when you need one? _

Then, like it was sent from on high, she spotted an air bike parked a short distance away. She smiled. "Perfect."

* * *

_Who was that? _Nos-4-a2 asked himself as he flew over the city.

Once again his mind flashed a brief image of a blue haired girl with tanned skin toting a gun. But, just like before, this female looked much different. The one in his mind was short and much younger. Plus her eyes were brown not purple and she sure as heck didn't wear glasses like the female he'd encountered now.

So, they were two different people. They just looked alike in a few areas.

Before he could ponder if further the air around him seemed to explode. He let out a roar of surprise and instinctually moved away from the cause of the explosion. Something had blown out a transformer on a utility pole. The hotel across the street went dark. _The tenants in that building won't be very happy, _he found himself thinking. _Especially if they were doing something important._

"You're not going anywhere, vampire!" a voice called out from behind him.

Instantly the troubles of the people in the hotel fled his mind. He stiffened then glanced over his shoulder. Not too far behind was the girl from earlier. She was now riding a hover bike, her tanned face full of determination and that gun still aimed in his direction.

So that was it. She really was there to get him after all. He didn't know why but he wasn't about to let her have her way. Nobody was going to cage him again.

_Again? I've been caged before._

_Yes, many times. _

Nos-4-a2 didn't ponder that thought any longer. Turning away from the approaching girl, he threw his wings back and dived down toward the ground.

* * *

Buzz and XR had picked up Nos-4-a2's energy signature only a few minutes after Heather had. As they headed toward the spot where it was XR suddenly discovered that it was moving again. "Hey, Buzz," he said, poking Lightyear in the arm. "I think our target is on the move again."

Buzz frowned. 'Then we'd better get moving as well before he gets away." the human space ranger activated his wings and shot into the air. XR followed his lead, activating his own jet pack and flying after him.

They hadn't gotten very far when a black caped body sporting glowing amber wings shot past them. Even though the figure was going rather fast they recognized the energy vampire anyway by his large amber colored wings.

"There he is!" Buzz shouted. "Let's get him!"

But before either could move they had to back up to avoid colliding with an airbike that shot past them recklessly.

"Whoa!" Xr shouted, grabbing Buzz's arm and pulling him out of the way. As he did so he caught a glimpse of the driver's face. "Hey, don't we know that guy?"

Buzz recognized the rider of that bike easily. "Heather!" he exclaimed. "Craters, she found him first! Come on, XR we'd better make sure she doesn't get hurt!" then he shot after the energy vampire and his bounty hunting pursuer.

* * *

Heather chased Nos-4-a2 through the city, avoiding on coming vehicles and trying her best not to lose sight of him. It was getting difficult because he was constantly flying into heavy traffic and she kept on having to swerve to avoid it. Plus sometimes he seemed to go right _through_ the cars though she knew that couldn't be possible since he wasn't a full blood or a half breed Tangean.

"Craters," she cursed when she once again had to pull the bike sharply to the left to avoid an oncoming airbus. "At this rate I'm going to be gray before I catch that blasted vampire." She growled and added more power to the bike, shooting forward before she lost sight of him when he ducked between two casinos. She pulled on the bikes handlebars sharply and made the turn, narrowly avoiding hitting the wall.

Nos-4-a2 looked back and spotted her. He'd hoped that flying into the small space between the buildings would be the perfect escape but he was proved wrong. He saw her readying her gun and he panicked, pinning his wings back and diving toward the surface.

Heather pulled on the bike trying to make it do the same. The front swerved to the right and she had to ghost through the whole thing to avoid an injury. By the time she came out of the wall the energy vampire was nowhere to be see. "Craters!" the girl cursed, slamming her fist into the bikes engine. "He got away! Blasted vampire!"

Just then she noticed two other flying figures coming toward her. She turned the bike around to face them. Once they were close enough to make out she cursed again. "My luck is just getting worse and worse."

A few moments later Buzz and XR pulled up in front of her. "Heather Gemini," Lightyear said sounding like he was about to lecture her.

"What do you want now, Lightyear?" she demanded.

"Move aside, Heather," Buzz ordered.

She was a stone. "What so you can capture the energy vampire yourself?" she asked. "I'm sorry, Lightyear but if you think I'm going to just stand by and let get your hands on him you've got another thing coming."

"This is not a request, Heather," he snapped using his more authoritive voice. "Move your vehicle or face arrest for hindering the apprehension of a wanted criminal."

"That might have worked on someone else but it's not going to work on me," she stated. "But since I'm in a hurry anyway-" suddenly she spun the bike around and took off in the direction she hoped Nos-4-a2 had gone.

For a moment Buzz and XR hovered in the air with no reaction then they both took off after her.

"Do you think she knows where he is going?" XR asked, looking over at Buzz.

The human space ranger shrugged. "I don't know," he replied. "If she does she must be able to read his mind since she wasted her time pausing to talk to us."

* * *

Nos-4-a2 didn't stop flying until he was sure he'd lost his pursuer. Once he was sure he had he stopped to rest, his wings flickering on and off. Suddenly they deactivated and he was send plummeting to the ground. The energy vampire tried to grab something to break his fall but with only one arm he couldn't get a firm grip on anything. He crashed into a dumpster, the lid slamming shut after him.

Instantly he shoved the lid open and pulled him out, spitting garbage from his mouth. "Oh ew, veggies," he moaned, flopping onto the ground and spitting out the greens. He heard a banging noise and went ridged, his optics focusing on a door in the wall of the building the dumpster was leaning against. A moment later the door opened a green skinned woman stepped outside, carrying a garbage bag.

She walked toward the dumpster but when she saw the robot kneeling beside it she froze, her eyes opening wide. He stared back at her. For a moment neither said anything.

"Umm," Nos-4-a2 began, trying to think of something to say. "Hi?"

The woman caught sight of his fangs and panicked. Screaming she threw the bag at him, hitting him in the chest and knock him back against the dumpster beside it. She then turned and dashed back into the building, closing and locking the door behind her.

Moaning, Nos-4-a2 pushed the bag away then rubbed the grime off his body.

_You should have attacked her, _that voice in his head growled. _Silenced that filthy organic before she could scream her bloody head off._

_I couldn't do that, _he argued back, reaching up and grabbing the edge of the dumpster. He pulled himself up until he was hovering comfortably. _Why would I want to? I figured she might be able to help-_

_Organics don't help monsters! _the voice insisted. _Especially __**you.**__ You have to rely on yourself. _

_I just figured she might be able to hide me from that girl with the gun._

_She would not have hidden you. She would have handed you right over._

_Oh. _He glanced toward the sky, his monocled optic scanning it for any sign of the girl with the gun. _Why is she after me anyway? Does she know me?_

Once again he had a flash of the other girl with the blue hair but aside from the hair and skin tone, neither looked remotely close to the other. _So it's not her, whoever she is.._

_Why bother obsessing over it? It's not doing you any good. Even if you did know who she was it does not change the fact that she's out to get you. If I were you, I'd forget out figuring out who she is and focus on dealing with her before she does something to you. _

The voice had a point. Nos-4-a2 didn't have time to ponder the girl's origins anyway, not while she was out to get him. He had to figure out a way to take care of her before she took care of him.

He glanced back at the sky. Still no sign of her, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to find him again. He activated his wings and took off into the sky. It would be best if he figured out a way to deal with her, especially if he wanted to live.

* * *

Heather Gemini set the bike in idle and checked her scanner, hoping to get a blip from a certain energy signature. Unfortunately for her the one she wanted did not show up again. "Craters," she cursed, pocketing the device. "This is all Lightyear's fault. If he hadn't distracted me this never would have happened."

She cast her eyes over the city, squinting them in the bright light in hopes of catching a glimpse of glowing amber wings. Even in a world full of machines those two pieces of flight sustainment stood out.

But she saw nothing except other air vehicles and bright lights.

The girl bounty hunter sighed and took off her glasses so she could rub her tired eyes. Instantly the entire view became a blurr. She closed her eyes and wiped at the lenses removing dust, then put them back on. Nothing had changed.

Heather sighed once more and pulled her bike into gear, shooting out of the idle spot and riding through air traffic, her senses on full alert and her purple colored eyes scanning every available space. "Maybe if I put some distance between me and the pedestrians," she said to herself, tipping the bike and shooting upward.

The moment she was out of traffic she felt a little better. It was so much easier to looked around from higher up. She smiled to herself. "Good, let's keep looking."

She'd only gone a few feet when something slammed into her bike, almost knocking her out of the driver's seat. The girl let out a yelp and gripped the handlebars tightly so she wouldn't fall. At that moment she caught a glimpse of amber wings and a triangular face that looked back at her in terror.

"You!" she shouted, trying to pull herself back into the seat.

The energy vampire seemed to recognize her too. He let out a roar and shot a blot of plasma at the bike. The blast caused the engine to explode. The anti gravity hardware deactivated and before she knew what was happening, the bike and the bounty hunter were both sent plummeting to the ground.

* * *

Nos-4-a2 paused in mid-air and watched the blue haired female and her ride fall crashing to the ground below. Part of him was enjoying this but another part was feeling guilty.

_It looks like you didn't have to do much to deal with that pest, _that annoying voice stated triumphantly. _One less organic in the world. _

"But I didn't mean to kill her!"

_"Don't tell me you feel bad about this! She was going to do who knows what to you! It's best this way."_

But the other part of him wasn't sure. He still didn't move and just watched that bike getting smaller and small, feeling indecisive. He could still help her if he really wanted to. But as it turned out he didn't have to make that choice. It was decided for him.

Suddenly two bolts of purple plasma energy came flying up at him. Before he knew what they were or could move out of the way one hit him in the chest and another hit him in the wings, deactivating them. Roaring with pain his anti-gravity hardware blinked out and he found himself falling with no way of stopping himself.

BAM!

Nos-4-a2 slammed into something hard then fell off, landing heavily on the ground. Moaning he pushed himself into a sitting position, leaning forward to rest his head in his hands. Static passed through his vision as well as a few strange images but it passed quickly and his vision returned to normal, though his head still hurt.

"Ow.."

The sound of a voice made him turn his head. A short distance away sat the girl by her ruined bike, clutching her left wrist in an iron grip. "Craters," she cursed. "Craters and black holes!"

Suddenly she looked over at him. Their eyes met. The energy vampire panicked, pushing himself backward and trying to reactivate his wings but they refused to come on. He was stuck.

The girl watched him for a moment then seemed to draw some kind of conclusion. Wincing, she got to her feet, her hand still clasping her injured wrist. "Don't even try escaping," she ordered. "You won't get far."

He roared at her, hoping the sound would drive her away. She didn't even flinch, her tanned face hard as stone. "Oh shut up," she snapped.

She fumbled with her gun but the weapon fell out of her hand and hit the pavement. Nos-4-a2 dived at it, grabbing the weapon before she could do anything about it. He rolled away from her and aimed the weapon at her face. She froze, her eyes widening in surprise.

The energy vampire aimed the gun at her with his good hand. "Get away from me" he ordered. "Get away or I will blow your head off!"

"Now let's not do anything foolish," the girl said, trying to keep her voice steady. Maybe she could convince the vampire to give her back her gun. If not she could still keep herself from getting hurt anyway. But he didn't know that and she didn't want him to, not if she could help it. "Just set the gun down."  
Nos-4-a2 didn't comply. He kept the gun raised and aimed at her face.

_What are you doing? Shoot her!_

_I can't._

_Why can't you? You have the gun and therefore you have the advantage. Just blow her head off! She's trying to do the same thing to you!_

But he couldn't seem to fire and the girl seemed to be slowly realizing this fact. She started walking toward him, not one trace of fear in her purple eyes. "Give me back my gun," she said, putting out her hand as if expecting him to comply.

"You want your gun back?' he asked her. When she nodded he did something she wasn't expecting. He put the weapon into his mouth and bit down, draining it of all it's power. Once it was totally useless he took it back out and threw it at her. "Go ahead and take it."

She stared at the useless gun then back at him for a moment. Suddenly she seemed to lose all self control. Screaming in rage the girl lunged at him.

* * *

Buzz and XR finally picked up Nos-4-a2's energy signature once more. They started toward its location. They had nearly reached it when they heard a loud scream.

"What in the nebula was that?' XR asked, blinking his optics.

"That's what we're looking for," Buzz replied. "Come on!"

_A/N_

_I apologize for now updating this in such a long time. I kind of lack motivation and nobody really seems that interested anyway. I'll keep trying to update it as much as I can but it might take awhile. I do intend to finish it because I don't like leaving a story unfinished and this one is far from being done. I guess that's about it for now._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Nos-4-a2 hadn't been expecting that kind of reaction from the young female and was totally unprepared when she screamed like a banshee and flung herself at him. The girl slammed into his chest, knocking him to the ground. He roared in surprise and struggled to push her away but could do very little with only one arm except flail helplessly.

"You stupid vampire," she screamed into his face. "How dare you do that to my father's gun!"

He shoved at her but wasn't able to dislodge her. She gripped his arms and glared into his face, he expression that of one who had just lost something precious. "I won't let you get away with that! I don't care what he says!"

The girl held him down with her knee and let go of one of his arms so she could grip his forehead. Before he could stop her she slammed his head hard against the pavement.

An explosion of static burst into his head as sounds and images winked out. He struggled to regain his senses but the alien girl repeated the movement and the static winked out to body suddenly went limp as consciousnees slipped away from him even as he tried to hold onto it.

He couldn't let it end like this. He couldn't let that girl take him down so easily but there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

Right before he slipped into stasis mode he heard the evil voice mocking him. _Such a disappointment. You're so much tougher than that. I'm so ashamed of myself._

00

Heather Gemini stopped smashing Nos-4-a2's head against the ground when she realized he was no longer online. She stopped the onslaught and looked into his face. The red optics had gone dark and he stared at her with a blank expression. She stared back, suddenly realizing she might have gone too far.

_Uh oh. I did it again. I hope I haven't killed him. _

Letting go of the energy vampire's head she reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a small computer. Switching it on she ran the tiny machine over his limp form. The read out told her he was still funtional, just in stasis. She sighed in relief and pocketed the device.

_Well so much for a challenge, _she thought getting up. _But at least he's still alive._ She reached down and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the dumpster. When she realized holding onto only one wasn't a good idea, she tried to grab the other only then discovering he only had one arm.

"Huh?"

_Zurg didn't tell me that Nos-4-a2 only had one arm. _she put her hands on her hips and glared down at the machine. _Now how in the world am I going to put the cuffs on him if he's only got one arm?_

Just then she heard a voice call from above. "Heather!"

The blue haired girl looked up and saw Buzz Lightyear and his robot friend slowly decending toward her. "Oh great," she muttered. "I bet now they're going to try to take him from me.."

Her guess prove right a few seconds later when the space rangers landed and Buzz said. "I see you've managed to incompassitate the suspect." he walked toward her. "We'll take it from here."

"Oh no you _won't!" _she shouted, stepping in front of the robot vampire. "I'm the one who captured him, Lightyear, and I'm not going to give him up to a bunch of pompus space rangers."

Buzz glared at her. "Don't start with that attitude, young lady," he scolded her. "You know giving him up to the Gallatic Alliance is the right thing to do."

"I know no such thing," she snapped, folding her arms. "The only thing I know is that you're trying to take him away from me and steal credit for capturing him."

"I will do no such thing," he informed her.

"Don't lie to me!" she shouted, clenching her fists. "Just get away from me and let me do my job." she turned back to the vampire but Buzz grabbed her arm, forcing her to give him her full attention once more.

"Now you listen to me, Miss Gemini," he began. "If you don't hand Nos-4-a2 over to the propery authorities it can end very badly for you."

"Are you threatening me, Lightyear?" she asked.

"I'm not threatening," he said. "I'm giving you a warning."

"Well," she said shaking his hand off. "Thanks for the warning but I'm not going to change my mind." she reached down and grabbed Nos-4-a2's good arm. "Don't tell me how to do my job. You should be focusing on your own."

"I was sent here to capture Nos-4-a2," he told her. "and I intend to do what I was hired to do."

"And you failed your mission," she responded. "I got him first, which means you have to step aside and allow me to do my job."

"Just who exactly paid you to capture him anyway?" he asked her.

"That," she said, sneering. "Is between me and my client."

Buzz wasn't about to let her get away with such a vague answer. "I mean it, young lady! Who is your client!"

Heather looked back at him again, her expression defiante. "Why don't you try and find it out for yourself," she challenged. "Seeing as you're so smart and perfect."

Then before he could say another work she and Nos-4-a2 disappeared into the ground. XR watched this with his mouth hanging wide open. "I wha-what in the world?" he looked up at Bizz. "Did that girl just ghost through the ground?"

Buzz nodded absently. "Yes she did," he said, as his mind worked over what she'd said. "She's half Tangean."

"What?"

XR gaped at the space ranger, unable to process what he had just said. "She's half tangean?' he asked.

Buzz nodded.

"How can that be possible?" he asked him. "Tangean's have a strict code about those things. If any of them went and married someone of a different species-"

"I don't know how it happened," Lightyear cut him off. "I just know it did."

"But if her parents were well known bounty hunters wouldn't that be common knowledge?"

For a moment Buzz didn't respond. He seemed to be debating whether to tell the robot what he knew about her family or continue to keep it to himself. "Her parents didn't exactly follow the rules anyway," he finally said. "Her mother was a bounty hunter that fell for her father who was a Tangean knoble. Because neither of their parents approved they eloped."

"Oh so it's like a Romio and Juliet kind of thing then?"

"I guess you could say that," Lightyear responded, frowning. "But anyway that's about all there is to the story."

"Aww I was hoping for something more interesting than that."

"Forget about that," Lightyear replied looking down at him. "We have more important things to worry about."

The space ranger turned away and headed back the way they came.

"Where are you going, Buzz?" XR asked, wheeling after him. "Aren't we even going to try to catch up with her?"

"Oh, we will," Buzz informed him. "But first we have some research to do."

00000

Heather ghosted out of the ground with her prize a few blocks away from where she'd left Buzz and XR. Once she was fully out of the ground she let go of Nos-4-a2's arm and leaned against the wall, panting. "Craters, that took a lot out of me," she grumbled, her hand resting on her chest. "and that guy is heavier than he looks!" she glared down at the robot. "Stupid robot, Why does he have to weigh a ton?" she toed him with her foot, wanting to kick him but knowing she'd hurt her foot if she did. "How am I going to get him back to my ship if I can't even carry him?"

She was tempted for a moment to waken the robot then changed her mind. If she did that she had no way of controling him, seeing as he only had one arm and she couldn't secure him with hand cuffs.

_This sucks. _

She slapped her hands against her thighs and glared down at the robot. There had to be an easy way to move him. If only he was as simple to move as the other fugatives she'd captured.

_Blasted machine. I'm in shape but I'm not the Bionic Woman!_

She stood still for a moment, her mind working to come up with a solution. So far nothing came to mind and it only served to further irritate her.

"Great," she muttered, sinking down to a sitting position on the pavement. "I manage to catch my prey and I can't even get him to the 's no way I'll be able to ghost all the way there. That would take up too much of my energy." She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. "Just perfect!"

A faint moaning brought her to full alert. She instantly raised her head and looked over at the energy vampire. He seemed to be stirring.

_He's waking up. Oh wonderful. This isn't going to help me at all. _

She got to her feet, her injured wrist protesting when she used her left hand to hoist herself up. She winced slightly but forced herself not to dwell on the pain too much. If she focused on her pain she'd never get anything watched him carefully, noticing his optics flickering on and off in a rapid strobe light fashion. A few seconds later the anomoly ended and his optics went dark again.

She sighed. "Looks like he wasn't waking up after all..." _But then what in the world was that about?_

That's when he surprised her. Suddenly his hand reached out and grabbed her ankle. She could only let out a gasp of surprise before he yanked her off her feet, sending her crashing to the pavement. She hit her head on the concrete and a burst of stars fill her vision.

She fought to regain her senses and did just as the robot lunged at her, landing on top of her and pinning her down with his good arm.

Then... they just stayed in that position for a moment staring at each other.

_What is he waiting for? _she wondered. _Why isn't he trying to kill me? He's got the perfect oppertunity. _

But he didn't in fact it seemed like he was having some kind of internal conflict, it was obvious by the look on his face. His teeth were clenched in an angry scowl and a low growl emitted from his throat.

_Kill her! _the voice in his head urged. _You have the chance. She's at your mercy. Rip her head off. _

_I... _

_Well? What are you waiting for?_

_I can't!_

_Don't start with that again! She very nearly killed you! Why are you holding back? This isn't like you at all. _

_How would you know what is like me?_

The voice made no response to that. He shouldn't have even been expecting one from that elusive voice. It only seemed bent on making him more confused about himself and what he was. A brief memory flash went through his mind. An image of a blue skinned woman with red hair. It was there then gone before he could even try grasping at anymore informaton. It merely left him with a question.

Who was she?

He would figure that out later. Right now he had someone else with blue on them to deal with. He focused all his attention on the bounty hunter girl under him. She was struggling to free herself but not accomplishing much. She glared up at him with hard, purple eyes. Another memory flashed through his processor. A girl with tanned skin and blue hair... but she was different looking.

"I don't know what you want with me but I'm not going to let you take me," he growled into her face.

"I'm not giving you a choice," she shot back, wriggling in his grasp. "I'm being paid good money to capture you and I'm not going to let you slip through my fingers."

"Right now it seems as if the only thing you're doing is wasting your energy," he informed her as a smile crossed his lips."Seeing as I'm the one who has the upper hand."

"That's what you think."

and then... then she seemed to stink into the ground. Nos-4-a2, who stills grasped her arm started to go down with her. When his hand went into the pavement he panicked at let her go. This accomplished little, seeing as the moment he did so the sinking stopped but his hand remianed stuck in the ground. When he tried to pull it out nothing happened. Roaring in anger he yanked on his hand, wishing he had both of them so it would be easier.

"It seems you're stuck now."

Now-4-a2 looked up and found the girl standing over him with her hands on her hips. _How did she do that?_

Before he could figure that out the girl lashed out with her foot, kicking him in the face. The blow knocked him back but since his hand was stuck in the ground he didn't go very far and fell forward onto his stomach afterward.

He let out a roar of anger and glared up at her but couldn't do much more because his other arm was missing. She glared back, her arms folded and her hands on her hips.

"You're not going anywhere, vampire," she stated. "Not in the condition you're on so just give up before I'm force to kill you and if I do that my client won't be very happy."

Client? Who was she refering to? He couldn't think of anyone who would want him this badly but of course he lacked memory so for all he knew a million people would want him captured or worse.

"You wouldn't kill me," he stated, his eyes never leaving hers.

"You want to make a bet on that?" she asked. "I could, should kill you right now, seeing that doing so would be doing the universe a huge favor."

What did she mean by that? He tried to figure that out but nothing came to him. His mind was a blank.

"But seeing as that isn't possible right now the best I can do is finish my job and get my payment for it." she moved toward him as if to hit him again

Nos-4-a2 visably flinched and tried to move away from her, though with his hand stuck in the ground, he couldn't go very far. When she was close enough he roared into her face and tried to bite her. She stepped back, avoiding it. There was no way she was going to let him do such a thing. But there was still one problem even if she did knock him out again. How was she going to get him to her ship?

She couldn't carry him, ghosting would use up way too much energy, and she doubted she could convince him to get there himself.

_Who am I kidding? He'd never do that. _

She was stuck. _Craters. _

"You're not going to take me in that easily," Nos-4-a2 replied, glaring up at her. "I don't need hands to take care of you."

"Maybe not but they help," she responded. "and you don't seem all that formidable without them, seeing as you don't have any legs. Just those little arms and your wings."

The energy vampire didn't respond. He glared at her a moment longer then seemed to suddenly resign himself. He stopped trying to free his hand and flopped over onto his side.

Heather watched him, wondering what he was doing now. If this was another ploy to escape she wasn't going to fall for it. She readied herself but whatever she was expecting never happened.

Instead he surprised her. "Oh, what's the point of it?" he asked out loud. "I'm not going to find out anythng anyway so why bother trying?"

The girl blinked. "Huh?" she had no idea what he was talking about.

He looked up at her. "I guess nothing ever goes the way I want it," he said. "Ever since... since this happened I haven't gotten anything I wanted. I can't even repair my own arm!"

Well this was unexpected. Why in the world was he going on about this anyway? She had no idea but at least he wasn't trying to get away.

_You're an idiot saying this in front of her, _that voice scolded him. _It's not any of her business what you're going through. Why are you bothering to tell her? Just shut your mouth already. _

_I don't know, it just came out. Why do you care anyway? _

The voice gave no reply.

Meanwhile Heather got an idea. Since she couldn't ghost him all the way to the ship and since he was too heavy to carry she only had one other alternative. Stinking her hand into the ground she pulled Nos-4-a2's stuck arm out. before he could react to this though she was on top of him.

"Okay, here's how it's going to go," she saidl eaning down to get into his face. "You're going allow me to take you to my ship without putting up a fight and-"

"No!"

"-and I will repair your arm and give you something to eat," she finished, pretending he hadn't said a word.

He hesitated then, letting her words sink in. Would she really do that? The offer was very tempting even though he knew he shouldn't. She was here to capture him after all so why should he even agree to her offer? That would be foolish.

But what other choice did he have? He was stuck in the ground thanks to her and missing an arm, plus his system was telling him he was getting low on energy which wasn't a good thing. If he said no she would probably leave him there to die but if he said yes she would probably take him to his death. So either way he was going to die. At least if he allowed her to do what she wanted he could live a little longer and come up with a way to turn this whole incident in his favor.

_Yes, exactly. Now you're thinking clearly. Once you have what you need you can get rid of the disgusting organic. _

_And do what?_

_Live for one thing. You do want to live, don't you?_

_Of course I want to live, but why must I take her out to do so?_

_Because if you don't she will take you out._

The voice was right about that. She was going to take him to his death. It would be better if he pretended to go along with her just to get repaired and fed and then take care of her before she took him to whoever had hired him to capture him.

That sounded like a plan.

"All right," he said, looking up at her. "I accept."

Heather smiled, a odd looking smile that wasn't exactly happy, more like sneaky, as if she was planning something. "Good," she replied. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

_A/N_

_I am very sorry this fic is taking so long to write. I have writer's block so it slows down my progress. _


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